Gravity Falls Golden Eyes
by Phouka Dragon11
Summary: When Bill had been set free, he had expected many things. But he didn't expect to be trapped in a human body, or to be whisked away into the middle of nowhere. And he certainly didn't expect to be bound to one of the Pines. (HIATUS)
1. Chapter1: Some Things Are Best Forgotten

It's been a week since the Pines twins had returned to Gravity Falls for the summer. After a year of school, their parents had sent them off to the small town for another holiday. The twins were happy above everything, the familiar sights of the weirdly-shaped cliff, the town and the Mystery Shack welcoming them like old friends. The best thing about returning, however, was seeing their family and friends again.

The two Stans were delighted above everything to see their niece and nephew again. They too had returned to their beloved Gravity Falls for a little break in their travels, visiting the Mystery Shack again. It still belonged to Stanford Pines, after all.

Mabel Pines yawned as she sat down at the breakfast table, to which she was lured to by the promising sweet smell of the pancakes. Dipper was already sitting there, talking with Stanford about something she didn't care for. To her, sunbeams and rainbows were more interesting than whatever supernatural business Dipper and Stanford were nerding out over.

"More pancakes coming right up!" Stan announced, flipping two pancakes for the nerds. The two thanked him briefly before resuming their conversation about eyebats. "Good morning sweetie," Stan greeted Mabel as she joined the table.

"Morning," she replied quickly, giving a loud yawn. She glanced outside, where the dark clouds swirled in preparation for a thunderstorm. Gompers and Waddles were out in the lawn, grazing lazily on the grass. America's top power-couple. She yawned again and grasped a few words in Dipper and Ford's conversation.

"Eyebats... attacked us... fought to the death..."

"Can you two get any more ridiculous?" Mabel asked them, still half asleep and unaware that she was the ridiculous one in the house.

"You're the one to speak," Dipper retorted instantly. "You're like the queen of being ridiculous."

"At least I didn't get detention for telling the teacher he's wrong and trying to get all the other students on your side to challenge the teaching curriculum," Mabel snapped back, no hint of aggression in her tired voice.

Dipper latched onto the pattern. "At least I didn't get detention for drinking paint."

"Enough you two," Ford stopped them before the harmless argument could escalate any further. He turned to Mabel and noticed the bags under her eyes. "When did you go to sleep?"

Mabel yawned again, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Fact was, she stayed up late to finish watching her High School Musical marathon, which ended way past her bedtime. She desperately tried to wake up on the inside as she explained this to the others.

"Yeesh, and you say I stay up late," Dipper shivered, finishing his first pancake and waited for Stan to be done with the second round.

"Here you go Mabel," Stan served her his signature pancake, with syrup and whipped cream, special for his favourite niece. "Besides, you better pull your hot belgian waffles together, you look dead inside."

Mabel gave a quiet chuckle and started to eat, the warmth spreading through her and waking her up from the inside.

"Finally awake!" Mabel cheered, punching the air with her fists once she finished her portion. "So Dip, what're we gonna do today?"

Dipper shrugged his shoulders. "We haven't been to the forest in a while," he mentioned, hinting to Mabel that he wanted to take a walk in the forest. Fortunately his twin caught onto his hint instantly.

"Oh my! We haven't seen Jeff and the other gnomes for over a year!" Mabel squealed in excitement, shaking her fists in a girly habit. "And the other funny creatures!"

"And you say supernaturals are nerdy!" Dipper stuck out his tongue out at her.

"Be careful out there you two," Ford warned them, reaching out for a newspaper that lay around nearby. "You know how dangerous that forest is."

"Oh tone it down Poindexter," Stan snapped at him. "We've dealt with far worse that anything that old forest has to offer."

"We'll be fine Great Uncle Ford," Mabel reassured the old man as Dipper stood up to get his vest and hat. Wendy had swapped her and Dipper's hats again, so now the hats were back on the heads of their original owners. "Dipper! Can you get me my pink sweater!?"

"Sure," came back the reply.

Mabel waved her two great uncles goodbye as she went out into the corridor where Dipper had began to put on his deep blue vest. He threw her the clump of rich pink wool, which Mabel pulled over her head and admired the shooting star symbol that was stitched onto it.

Despite ageing a year, neither Mabel nor Dipper had changed much. Fact, Mabel had outgrew her love for unicorns and Dipper had got over his love for Wendy, but apart from those minor details, they were still the same Pines twins.

Dipper lead the way out into the forest while Mabel followed him with a spring in her step. The shaded forest groaned and creaked their welcome, willing to reveal their many secrets to them. Mabel took a deep sniff, inhaling the fresh forest scent. She didn't know why, but whenever she was in that forest, a strange calmness and a sense of security washed over her, as if the forest was her birth mother. She was sure Dipper felt the same way, for he also began to walk slightly faster to hear the undergrowth crinkle beneath his feet.

"So, where to?" Mabel asked him, her eyes following a woodpecker that streaked through the canopy.

Dipper shrugged comically. "You decide," he replied, though he was clearly suggesting they visit their old path again.

Mabel stuck out her tongue at him, crossing her arms in mock offended-ness. "Let's spy on Jeff while he takes a bath in his squirrels!" she suggested in a hushed voice.

"Ew! No!" Dipper objected hastily, pulling a face of disgust. "What is wrong with you?"

Mabel threw her arms wide with a massive smile. "Everything!"

The two twins chuckled together as their feet turned to their old, familiar haunts automatically. Now the old path had overgrown over the year where nobody had walked down it, but the twins had walked down it enough last year to have it engraved into their minds, over and over. They had walked down this pathway so much, it became theirs. Their path, their patch of pretty blue flowers, their small brook and their trees. Unofficially theirs.

"I've missed this," Dipper piped up after a long silence. "I'm really glad we're back here."

"You could say that again, Sir Dipping-Sauce!" Mabel curled her fingers into handguns and pointed them at her brother.

Dipper crossed his arms and gave her a warning glare. "Don't call me that."

They passed the ridiculously thick-trunked pine tree and headed to the brook which ended their pathway.

The little brook was more of a fast torrent than a small stream, but Mabel had taken a liking to the word 'brook' ever since Dipper mentioned it and it has been known as 'The Brook' ever since. She liked the way it was said. Brrrooooooook. What a funny word.

"Anyways, have you seen Candy or Grenda recently?" Dipper asked her casually, following Mabel as they clambered over a fallen tree. "I hadn't seen you hang out with them."

Mabel swatted her hand as if it was nothing, landing on the ground with a thud, Dipper landing beside her. "They're gone to summer camp for the first half of the summer," Mabel explained as if it was nothing. "But don't worry, I've got Pacifica to keep me company."

Dipper pretended to be offended. "What about me?" His voice cracked so bad that a bird flew off its branch to look for a quieter place to sleep. "You dear twin brother? Oh it's like I'm invisible!" He put the back of his hand to his forehead in a sarcastic lament. "My sister loves me no more!"

"Dipper!" Mabel grabbed his shoulders and began to rock him back and forth. "Don't worry! We've got a whole summer to drive each other crazy!"

Dipper wriggled free of her grasp, both of them chuckling quietly.

"You're a drama queen," Mabel told him.

Dipper put his hands on his hips and pretended to be a drag queen. "Oh my god Kiiiiiiiim!"

"Yes bitch?" Mabel played along, pulling a duck face and batted her eyelashes.

"I can't take the massive dump! I think I'm constipated!"

"Just push!"

"Oh it's okay, I was pregnant!"

Both twins laughed as if they've heard the funniest joke in the world. Mabel had to hold herself up on her brother to avoid falling to the ground.

"We're idiots," Dipper managed to choke out after they've both calmed down slightly.

"We are the intelligence of the world!" Mabel sang, setting them both off laughing again.

"No seriously," Dipper coughed, managing to stand up straight. "We should be getting back. Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford would be worried."

"C'mon Dip, let's get to The Brook first," Mabel prodded him forward, beginning to walk again. Dipper had no choice but to follow along.

The dim light of the clouds seeped through the pine needles, the cold breeze picking up into a stronger whistle, blowing forward and beckoning the twins to move forward.

"Mabel, there's a thunderstorm coming," Dipper whimpered, jumping at the distant sound of thunder. "Maybe we should start heading back?"

Mabel gave a snort of laughter and poked him in the stomach. "Where's you sense of adventure bro bro?" She purposely ran faster so Dipper had to pick up his pace to follow her. She strained her ears, and smiled wider when she heard the fast rush of the fast little torrent.

The brunette slowed down so she stopped at the bank of her little brook. The grey light bounced off the shimmering, rushing water and sparkled in the dark light cast by the thunderstorm clouds. She knelt down and dunked her hands into the water up to the wrists, causing her to shiver. Dipper had mentioned that this brook had somehow managed to accomplish the impossible feat of being in a liquid state at a minus degree temperature.

"Mabel! Don't run off like that!" Dipper scolded her, catching up to her. "Look, Weirdmaggedon's over but there are dangerous creatures round the forest!"

Mabel sighed and took her soaking hands out of the brook and made a starburst motion with them, splattering Dipper with tiny droplets of ice-cold water.

"C'mon Mabel," Dipper gestured the way back. "Being in the forest during a thunderstorm isn't a good idea."

"Paranoid!" Mabel taunted, poking him in the cheek with a soaking finger. "You're so paranoid!"

"I'm not paranoid!" Dipper snapped, a darker tone to his voice as he stared his sister down. "I just got a really bad feeling about being here."

Mabel rolled her eyes. "Is this your fake sixth-sense again?" she sighed. "Look, nothing's gonna kill us, you're just being paranoid."

"Mabel I'm serious!" Dipper whined, his voice beginning to break, just as it always did when he was scared or angry. "We need to head back because a) a thunderstorm is coming and b) there's something familiar here. Not a good familiar, the really bad familiar."

Mabel shook her head in disbelief, rubbing her hands on her sweater to dry them off. Suddenly she caught something in the corner of her eye. It was a sort of grey thing, something that looked incredibly out of place in that forest.

"Hey, what's that?" Mabel pointed to it, turning to run to it before Dipper could stop her.

"Mabel didn't you hear what I just said?" Dipper snapped, following her reluctantly as Mabel pushed through the bushes and into an empty patch of grass. Mabel froze, her eyes setting upon the small stone statue.

The statue was as still as stone, moss and grass beginning to grow over it through the time. It's one arm outstretched with a four-fingered hand while its single eye stared blankly forward, looking but not seeing. The top hat and bow-tie were still there, but gone was all the colour, replaced only by cold stone.

"Dipper look at that!" Mabel gasped, tugging at her brother's sleeve. "It's him! It's Bill!"

Dipper had frozen, his muddy brown eyes staring silently at the statue in what was either fear or shock. Mabel could swear that she could hear his heartbeat aiming to beat right out of his chest like a runaway train.

"Mabel we need to go," Dipper told her, taking a step back from the statue. "We need to get as far away from here as we can."

"Dipper please," Mabel rolled her eyes. "Bill's dead, here's his corpse!" She pointed to the statue, which looked as emotionless as ever. "What's he gonna do to us now? Turn you into a deer and turn me into a mermaid? Though on second thought, I like that idea."

Dipper gave her a look of disbelief, his shoulders dropping in disappointment. "Mabel are you even listening to what I'm saying? He's dangerous! Have you forgotten everything that happened last year?"

"Have you forgotten everything that happened last year?" Mabel mocked his panicked voice, flipping her hair back and out of her eyes. "Chill out Dipstick, there's nothing to be scared of. Look."

She padded forward towards her enemy, ignoring the panicked gasps and squeaks of her brother, and poked the stone eye. "Who's the weak one now?" she said, the wind blowing her hair back and making her look grand and powerful. She rested her elbow on the tall hat and leaned on him as if he was nothing more than a piece of furniture. "See?" she called to the panicked boy. "He's harmless. Completely harmless. Don't know why you're scared of him."

"I'd leave him alone if I were you," Dipper shivered, biting his bottom lip. He was clearly hovering on the boundary of dragging Mabel away from the statue and back to the Mystery Shack. "We have to get going."

"Paranoid!" Mabel taunted loudly, propping herself up to sit on the tall hat and flapped her arms in her sweater sleeves to look like even more of an idiot. "You're so paranoid Dip! What's the point in fearing someone that's dead?"

Dipper shook his head. "Has last year's zombie apocalypse not taught you anything?"

"That was your fault," Mabel pointed out.

"That's beside the point!" Dipper was getting more irritated by the second. "If Bill doesn't kill us then the thunderstorm will."

"Whaa?" Mabel blew a loud raspberry, jumping down and landing in front of the statue. Her mind suddenly drifted off to a very weird idea. "What do you think will happen if I shake his hand?"

Her idea made Dipper's heart stop.

"MABEL ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" he yelped, not knowing if she was serious. "He'll possess you and break free!"

"Bullcrap!" Mabel shrugged. Her mind was set.

Before Dipper could even process what Mabel was doing, the girl reached out her hand and fitted it into the shape of the statue's hand, the four fingers on each hand fitting together perfectly. Mabel was about to call back to Dipper, taunting him that it was completely harmless, when she felt heat radiating from the statue's hand.

Suddenly the two hands burst into an explosion of bright blue fire, just like it did when Gideon made a deal with him. Mabel screamed in fear and leapt back, taring her hand away from the demon's, making the blue flames die down, but it was already too late.

Mabel fell back onto her behind and shuffled away from the statue, which had began to crack loudly, yellow light emitting from the depths of the cracks. A familiar demonic laughter tore through the pleasant silence, still haunting and still insane.

Suddenly yellow light consumed the entire statue in an explosion, stone being flung in all directions away from the statue all at once, causing both Mabel and Dipper to throw their hands up to shield their eyes from the suddenly bright light.

"MABEL WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"


	2. Chapter 2: One on One

A slight warning. This chapter does have battle and a lot of blood. Thanks for all the feedback and support so far. It is so greatly appreciated!

The twins had no idea what to think. Their hands lowered as the bright yellow light dimmed. There was a liquid lob of shining gold where the statue used to be, the creature still forming.

Mabel trembled on the floor, her mind gone blank. Dipper pulled her to her feet as they both backed away against a tree to avoid themselves being flanked.

This was bad. This was very, very bad.

"Oh! OH! Gravity Falls it is good to be back!" came the unique voice of Bill Cipher, the golden creature stepping up onto two legs to stand before the two children. Was it just them, or was Bill bigger and less triangular? "I have to admit, I didn't think you were that stupid, Shooting Star."

The creature threw a hand up into the air, shattering through his glowing gold exterior to reveal the creature beneath.

The boy was about the size of Wendy Corduroy, standing only about a head taller than the twins. His bright golden hair resembled that of the Mad Hatter, the tall black top-hat sitting neatly on his head. The black bow tie was still tied around his neck, the ridiculous golden tailcoat flowing along in the breeze. His eyes were closed, a toothed grin spread wide across his face.

"How... strange..." His eyes snapped open. They had no white, just gold like the late summer sun, vertical cat-like slits for pupils stared. The eyes... they seemed more alive than any of the boy ever was, Dipper was reflected in one, Mabel in the other, so detailed that they seemed to be mirrors themselves. "Why am I... human?" He inspected his hand, apparently finding the skin horrifying. Subtly steadying himself, his brilliant golden gaze fixed onto the twins. "Well hello there," he greeted them with a tip of his black top-hat. His voice was cold and without affection, just like it was a year ago. "Look at you two, grown over the year. Looks like I'm not the only good-looking one in this town anymore."

"Why... how- how are you here?" Dipper gasped, trembling from head to toe. He had subconsciously took a step forward to separate Mabel from the threat. "You died!"

"Oh I did, didn't I?" Bill shrugged, stretching out his hand. A bright flash flickered to reveal a long, crooked black cane. The boy leaned on it to make himself more comfortable. "But thanks to Shooting Star here, I'm back." He smiled creepily, but then it faded. "Though I must ask, why wasn't it you?"

His question set upon the brown-haired boy like a die in the sun. He could feel Mabel shaking behind him, so he stood his ground. He was the only thing standing between Bill and his sister.

"What in the world are you talking about?" he gasped, desperately fighting any urge to run from him and back to the shack. It would be better to have the threat on watch. He'd dealt with him before, he could deal with him again.

Thankfully Mabel had gotten over her shock to come to his rescue.

"What do you want from us you isosceles monster?" She sounded a lot braver than Dipper knew she was feeling. His sister was always better at covering up her fear than he was. "And why are you human? What's that about?"

Cocking his head to the side, Bill gave her a look, but then his mouth crooked in that horrifying smile again as he detected the fear that laced each and every word. "Aww, are you scared of me? I thought there was no point on being scared of _someone who's dead._ " Those last few words were echoed by the overly familiar demonic miasma voice that was able to strike fear into anyone. That voice... Bill had used it before... it sounded so creepy, like it belonged to Satan himself.

She yelped and ducked behind Dipper as she recognised her own words.

Bill had been listening the entire time.

He was never dead. Only trapped behind stone.

"Though I must thank you Shooting Star," Bill continued, throwing his cane up and catching it effortlessly. "You can't imagine how incredibly boring it is to stay stuck, in your own thoughts."

Mabel made an undecipherable noise of protest, finally stepping out from behind her brother to stand side by side with him.

"Is there a way to make him a statue again?" she whispered to Dipper, who had no idea how to answer any of the question he had been asked.

"It really is a shame though," said he, his fingers subtly tightening round his cane. "I can't imagine what everyone would say when the one and only Shooting Star set him free. Will they ever forgive you? Will you be able to live with the knowledge than you are the one who set me free?"

Mabel had enough. "You leave us alone!" she shrieked and ran at him. Bill swung his cane round, aiming to tare it right through her. Dipper gasped and acted without thinking. He leapt up and pushed Mabel out of the way. However Bill was faster.

The sharp cane tore through Mabel's right shoulder and Dipper's left shoulder, scarlet blood splattering out, pain taring through the open wounds. The twins yelped in pain as they both fell backwards onto the grass with a thud, blood splattering everywhere.

Dipper writhed in pain next to her, pressing his good hand to stop the bleeding. However seeing him hurt like this made Mabel even more angry. Ignoring Bill's terrifying laughter and her own pain, Mabel stood up and gave Bill a dark and dangerous glare. If looks could kill, Bill would've been deader than dead. Boy was she mad.

"Nobody messes with my brother!" Mabel roared, leaping at the golden eyed boy again.

However Bill once again was faster. He swung his cane round with only one arm, just like swinging a baseball bat.

Pain seared at the side of Mabel's head, another wound bursting open with bright scarlet blood. Mabel gave a shriek of agony, feeling herself being blasting back. She hit the trunk of a tree with a loud thud. She was knocked out cold before she hit the ground.

Dipper gasped as he saw Mabel's limp, bleeding body on the ground, the blood very red against the green grass. The monster in his chest erupted with anger as the boy subconsciously stood up, shaking not from fear but from fury.

"Touched a nerve there, didn't I?" Bill chuckled, wiping the human blood off his cane with his yellow sleeve, clearly caring for that cane more than his suit. "Knew your sister could always be used against you and-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. In the short silence between words, Dipper focused and sprang.

Bill's eyes widened as the thirteen-year-old crashed into him, knocking them completely off balance.

There was no rules of punching or kicking in this fight. The two boys were locked in a writhing tussle that flipped round the empty patch of ground, aiming to tare each other apart, Bill's black cane laying forgotten on the ground. Both boys fought for the offensive side, but for once, Dipper got a good grip on his enemy. He had the advantage...

...for a split second. Bill punched his open wound with all his might, causing Dipper to cry out in pain and release his grip on the demon, allowing him to slither out of his grasp.

"Finally!" Bill sneered, taking a few deep breaths while trying to ignore his bleeding nose where Dipper had punched him. "A challenge."

It is always gratifying when your mortal enemy, an all-powerful demon no less, notifies you as a worthy opponent.

This round was even less clean than the first one, combined with fury and exhaustion from both sides. This was something Dipper had never experienced before. His piddly match with Gideon Gleeful was nothing compared to this. Both sides had underestimated their opponents. Dipper didn't think Bill possessed that kind of muscle strength, but Bill was surprised how fast and agile Dipper turned out to be.

The boys took no notice of the rain that had started to fall from the sky, and the wind that had started to wail at them, tugging at their blood-matted clothes and trying to blow their hats off their heads. Only one thought ran through Dipper's numb mind.

 _He hurt Mabel. He hurt Mabel._

This was the red line, and it was crossed long ago. And Dipper had a reputation to do some incredibly brave and stupid things when he was angry. Thank goodness for all the fighting experience he'd gained, and also a few pointers from Gruncle Stan.

His eyes caught onto the sharp cane that lay on the ground. A weapon! Time was running out. His wound was now burning with agony from blood loss and the force of being punched a few times. Bill was smart; he was going for his disadvantage.

Blood roaring in his ears, Dipper gasped for air that Bill had knocked out of his lungs and managed to wrap his fingers round the black cane. The opponent was closing in, covered in blood- none of it his own.

It was now or never. _Life or death._

Mustering up his remaining strength, Dipper swung the sharp-ended cane at him, and felt the friction as he struck gold.

A loud scream rose from Bill's throat as he fell back onto the ground with a thud. The cane had torn diagonally across his chest, beginning to leak a bright red. It was not a deep wound, but a wound nonetheless.

Before the golden demon could scramble to his feet, Dipper pressed the sharp end of the cane under his chin, towering over his age old enemy.

He had won.

Dipper pushed the cane further, poking at the neck. Bill whimpered, realising that he was beaten. He wasn't used to being beaten, especially in a one on one match with a kid. It was unlike Bill to whimper, but right now Dipper couldn't care less. The demon was at his mercy. His heart thumped as he took two deep breaths.

"Nobody will ever be hurt again because of you," Dipper snapped, his brown eyes boring into Bill's golden eyes.

This was the creature that hurt his sister, him, his family and friends. He constantly put them at risk and had nearly destroyed the world. This was the monster that possessed him and nearly killed him and his sister. This was a monster, one that couldn't be talked sense into. He deserved to die. He needed to die.

All he had to do was thrust the cane through Bill's throat, and everything would finally be over.

Bill realised his intention and his eyes widened, the strange cat-like slits widening into oval shapes. For the first time, there was no glee, no anger and no evil. For the first time, genuine terror consumed them and showed Dipper's reflection once more.

The brown-haired boy stopped. He saw his own reflection in those bright golden eyes. Was Dipper really about to end someone's life? Seeing Bill so frightened and so helpless... it ignited something inside him.

Dipper growled and dropped the cane to the blood-soaked ground in a clatter. Bill gave him a look of confusion as his pupils started to resume to their thin shape.

When you're about to hurt someone all you see is yourself, becoming the thing you've always hated.

"I'm not like you Bill," Dipper said, just now becoming aware of the pelting rain that had soaked through his clothes, through his blood and through his skin. "I might be making a mistake on letting you live, but I'm not like you."

Bill looked at him in a way which Dipper had never seen anyone look at anyone before. Like his gaze could bore right through his spirit and see everything. For that moment, Dipper could swear that he saw something flash in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but a loud crash of thunder cut across him.

Dipper had forgotten all about the thunderstorm. His eyes turned upward to face the dark clouds. The dark thunderstorm clouds began to swirl round above them, lightening flashes lighting up the angry clouds for fractions of seconds.

"Oh no," Bill's gasp turned Dipper's attention back to him. "Not now!"

Now it was Dipper who gave him a confused glare.

"Pine Tree get out of here!" Bill turned to him, his golden eyes full of fear.

"What?" Dipper blurted out, not understanding anything that happened in the last few seconds.

"Pine Tree listen to me!" Bill yelled at him. Dipper shivered when he heard the desperation in his voice. Why was Bill suddenly behaving like this? "Take Shooting Star and get as far away from here as possible!" He bore his teeth when Dipper didn't move. "NOW!"

Dipper flinched and turned to get away, but he barely got five steps away when he felt pain sear through his whole body. He roared out as the electric shock caused him to fall to the ground, his limbs paralysed.

The boy reached out his hand, fighting to keep awake. Mabel was still lying there, motionless and bleeding in the rain.

"Ma... bel..." Dipper managed to say before everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3: Lost and Found

Could it be? I am on a roll with this story! Hopefully for the longer period. This chapter is a little longer than I intended it to be, so I tried to cut down on the unnecessary bits as much as I could. Again, reviews are greatly appreciated!

* * *

Soos trembled as he walked through the dark forest, pointing his flashlight at everything and anything. He was shivering from head to toe despite his trusted employee and the two old Pines at his side showing no sign of being remotely scared of the forest around them.

The thunderstorm was gone as soon as it came, only raining for about an hour before the storm cleared out into a clear sky full of bright, shining stars. That wasn't the problem though.

Dipper and Mabel had went into that forest before the storm, and never came back. The others didn't question it until it got well dark. The twins have been out this long before, but it was unlike them to just go alone for long periods of time and not take anyone with them.

Usually Soos himself went with them, and Wendy would sometimes tag along when she wasn't busy stealing cop cars and breaking into haunted roadside stores. Sometimes they did go into the forest by themselves, but it was only for a short while. A short trek 'to The Brook and back.'

"Okay here's the plan," Ford barked, the worry in his voice so dense it could be used as the oil used to fry deep-fried-butter, at least according to Soos. "We need to find Dipper and Mabel as soon as possible, so we're gonna split up and cover more land that way."

Soos shivered just at the thought of scouting the supernatural forest at night, all alone. He wanted to object, but his best friends were missing, and it was time for the boss of the Mystery Shack to become a hero.

Soos looked around, but the other three had already darted from his side and began searching. The massive hairless gopher whimpered and started to walk blindly forward, flinching at every small sound.

The other three began to call the twins' names, their voices echoing so it seemed like the forest itself was calling for the twins. The dark forest creaked and groaned, speaking in their own language, trying to tell the search party where the siblings were.

However there was no reply to their calls. Only eerie silence.

Biting his bottom lip, Soos joined in with the calling. "Mabel? Dipper? Where are you dudes? You're freaking me out dudes!"

He waited a few minutes, but once again he was faced with silence as his answer. He subconsciously knew that neither Dipper nor Mabel would answer, however he was still disappointed when nobody answered him.

Maybe he should try another way?

"Think like Dipper," he whispered to himself, then instantly decided against it. Dipper was smarter than him about a hundred times, and Soos didn't trust himself to even pretend he matched Dipper's IQ. "Think like Mabel," he changed his mind. That he could accomplish.

Mabel had told him about 'The Brook' that she and Dipper often visited. She talked about it about as much as she talked about 80's music. Soos had never been to 'The Brook', but if he just kept thinking like them, maybe he'd manage to trace their steps?

It sounded impossible, but Soos liked to think that 'impossible' was his middle name.

"C'mon Mabel dude, were would you go?" he said to himself, closing his eyes and trying to connect to something that evidently wasn't there. He stood there, still, for a few minutes before he realised that trying to connect his brain with Mabel's got him nowhere. Sighing in defeat, Soos reopened his eyes and pointed his flashlight at his surroundings.

Suddenly something caught his eye. The bushes were leaned outward as if someone or something had walked through it. The detail was minor, but Soos had a knack for finding stuff convenient to the plot.

Giving himself a mental pat-on-the-back for finding something that at least could give him a lead, Soos pushed through the bushes and began to walk down an evident pathway, wondering how he could've missed this in the first place. Soos fixed his crescent moon fez, remembering that Mabel rambled on about 'The Brook' continuously whenever the subject of the forest came up. She used it in phrases whenever she talked. "To The Brook and back" was always a favourite of hers. It was clear. If Soos found 'The Brook' Mabel appeared so fond of, then he would find the Pines twins. Piece of cake. All he had to do was follow the footpath.

Determination pushed Soos forward as he passed thick pine tree trunk and came upon a fallen log. He sighed and was about to turn back when his flashlight caused something to shine in the light. The massive man narrowed his eyes, only to realise that it was a trail of glitter that lead over the trunk. Mabel definitely passed by here, and that meant Dipper was with her too. Now that he looked, he could clamber over it if he tried.

"I'm coming for you dudes," Soos whispered, putting the flashlight between his teeth as he jumped up, pushing himself up with his feet and dragging himself up with his arms. With one massive heave, he managed to pull himself over the fallen tree to land on the other side with a thud. Feeling a massive sense of accomplishment, Soos spat out his flashlight and continued to follow that trace of glitter.

By now he strayed far away from the other three, so far that their cries were quieter than a faint giggle of a baby. However something else drowned out those cries.

The rush of water.

Soos pointed his light at the thing what was making the noise, and found exactly the thing he was looking for. A small stream that ran faster than a little stream should ever run, gleaming silver in the torchlight. Soos instantly knew that this was 'The Brook' he was looking for.

"Dudes?" Soos tried again, looking around for any sign of movement. "Mabel? Dipper? Where are you dudes?"

Once again, the answer was just silence. They weren't here. Soos' shoulders dropped in disappointment. This was supposed to be his big break, and yet he failed them. The darkness seemed to press on him as the torch flickered, causing Soos to panic. He tapped his flashlight a few times, resuming the bright glow. Again the light bounced off of something. More glitter.

His hope renewed, Soos began to follow the thin trail of pink glitter through the forest, thanking Mabel for always leaving a trail of glitter wherever she went.

The rush of 'The Brook' died down, but Soos felt his blood run cold when he heard another sound.

Someone was breathing. It wasn't the silent, normal kind of breathing, but a heavy, raspy breathing that belonged to someone that was trying to cling onto the last threads of their life. Sort of like the creepy breathing of Bonnie and Chica in the first Five Nights At Freddy's game.

"Mabel? Dipper?" Soos asked, pushing through the bushes. "Are you here dudes?"

Soos almost dropped his flashlight when he saw the empty patch of grass, where no trees grew. There was blood everywhere, very red against the very green. It was faint, some of it washed away in the thunderstorm. What happened here? Suddenly he wished that he wouldn't find the twins in this horrible place. _Please be safe, please be safe._

"This gotta be a horror video game," Soos whispered to himself, the flashlight trembling. He suddenly became fully aware of the raspy breathing that was in the background. Soos slowly turned towards the sound, shining his flashlight at where the sound was coming from.

Soos screamed louder than he ever did in his entire life.

"SOOS!?" came the others' voices, concerned and panicking.

"DUDES COME QUICK! PLEASE!" Soos yelled, tears at his eyes.

"WE'RE COMING!" Wendy's voice bellowed back.

Soos steadied himself and, dropping his flashlight to the ground, fell to his knees by the limp and tattered Mabel, laying in a pool of her own blood. It was in times like this he needed to get smart.

"Calm down Soos," he told himself sternly. "Remember what Abuelita taught you."

He touched her forehead, realising that it was ice-cold and still wet from the rain. "What happened Mabel?" he asked rhetorically, taking her in his massive arms. Maybe his massive, fat body could warm her up? His big bear-like hand tried to stop the bleeding from Mabel's head, but Mabel had already lost a lot of blood. He looked round, his eyes trying to tare through the dark night forest, but saw only dark silhouettes of surrounding trees. Where was Dipper? And what had attacked them to wound Mabel this badly?

"Soos what's going... on...?" Wendy reached him first, her voice trailing off once she saw the blood-soaked grass and the tattered Mabel in Soos' arms. "Oh my god what happened!?"

"I don't know!" Soos wailed, beginning to bawl out his eyes, hugging Mabel's cold body to himself in desperation. "She was just laying there!"

"Where's Dipper?" Wendy asked, shining her flashlight everywhere, though not seeing anything that looked like a human being. "Where is he?"

Soos' answer was the mumble of a slightly hysterical "I don't know."

The bushes rustled again as the two old men arrived at the scene. Both of them bore the same expression of horror upon seeing Mabel's limp body.

"MABEL!" Stan gasped, falling to his knees by Soos, stroking her blood-matted hair. "She's freezing! We need to get her back to the Shack."

Soos nodded his head in agreement. He always admired the protectiveness Stan felt for the kids. It was sort of the protectiveness Abuelita had for him.

"But what about the thing that attacked them?" Ford whimpered, looking in all directions with his flickering flashlight, however all he could see was trees and the darkness beyond them.

"We can't worry about that now!" Stan bellowed, dragging Soos to his feet. "We need to get Mabel back to the Shack. Poindexter and Wendy, you two need to find Dipper. He has to be around here somewhere."

Soos nodded solemnly, holding Mabel tightly in his arms. He and Stan turned back to run back to the shack while Wendy and Ford stayed there to search for Dipper. However Soos had a subconscious feeling that they wouldn't find Mabel's twin.

* * *

"Have you found him?"

Wendy and Ford had returned from the forest in the early morning. Stan looked to them in desperate expectancy, but the weighed down and disappointed faces he was greeted with proved to him that they had returned empty-handed.

The lump in Stan's throat got bigger as he saw the guilt in Ford's eyes, knowing that this went beyond what he could do. But that was the least of his worries right now.

They needed to find his nephew, because there was a very high possibility of Dipper sharing the same fate with his twin. What if he was already dead? That was something Stan did not want to think about.

"We searched the entire forest," Wendy sighed in guilt, her voice weighed down with tiredness and failure. "There was no sign of him."

Stan's mind completely exploded. What was he supposed to do? If only he had stopped them from going out, they would be alright now. Mabel was badly injured and Dipper had disappeared. What was he gonna tell their parents? What was he gonna tell himself?

"He has to be alright!" Wendy tried desperately, but the older twins stayed morbidly silent. The redhead's green eyes looked to her former boss and his twin brother in search for answers and comfort, but found none. "He has to be!"

Ford broke his silence in a quiet voice. "Where's Mabel?"

Stan managed to sigh out; "Soos is with her in the spare room."

He lead them to the spare room that once housed the body-switching electron carpet. Mabel was laying on the couch, wrapped in more blankets anyone would ever need, the fire in the fireplace blazing high to warm up the room. The bandages on her shoulder and head were already reddening, but Mabel's pale skin had gained some colour as her body temperature slowly warmed up. Her chest heaved up and down steadily, relieving Stan slightly. She was alive, but only just.

Soos looked up from where he was sitting. He expected Dipper to come with them, alive and well, but the droopy faces told him that he wouldn't see the boy. The massive man sniffed in sadness, beginning to bawl.

"How is she?" Ford asked, so hope-deprived that he barely even sounded like his old self anymore.

Soos wiped his glistening tears away as the sun began to rise, filling the room with pale amber light. "She's warming up," was all he could say.

"Maybe Mabel can tell us what happened when she wakes up?" Wendy suggested, still fighting to keep things positive and hopeful. Stan glared at her, but said nothing and just nodded.

He knew that the kid meant a lot to her, they've been through a lot together, after all. From fighting shapeshifters to surviving an apocalypse. That is how you form friendships. Stan had to admit that he felt a little bad for her. Dipper had saved her life on more than one occasion, and she felt incredibly guilty for not helping him in turn. It was exactly what Stan felt.

All he wanted was for the kids to be safe, so whoever had done this to them was going to have to say hello to his fists.

Suddenly a quiet groan made him look to the little girl. She had started to move as her eyelids flickered. Hope rose in Stan's chest. Mabel was waking up.

* * *

Mabel woke up to a pounding headache, after what felt like a thousand years or a heartbeat, she tried to recall anything that had happened. She became aware of the pain in her right shoulder and on the side of her head. What happened?

She groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, finding herself in the spare room where she and Dipper had switched bodies the previous year. She was on the couch wrapped in all the blankets the Mystery Shack had to offer, the fire in the fireplace crackling comfortably, giving light and warmth. A second later she became aware of the swarm of eyes looking to her, half in horror, half in relief.

"Good morning," said Mabel, really confused on the current situation. "Why is everyone here? Are we hiding from government agents? Is the world coming to an end again?"

Stan sighed and sat down beside her. "Mabel, are you okay sweetie?" he asked gently.

Mabel blinked in surprise. "Why wouldn't I be?" She cocked her head to the side in question, only to regret it a second later. She looked to her right where the pain came from, and found the bandage on the side of her right shoulder. It was reddening with what at first Mabel thought was ketchup stains, but then it hit her.

The events of the night before all flooded back to her, making her head hurt as if someone had hit it at full force with a frying pan.

"Where's Dipper!?" she demanded, beginning to panic. "Where's my brother? Is he here? Is he safe?"

Neither Wendy, nor Ford, nor Soos could look her in the eye.

Only Stan brought himself up to tell her the terrible truth. "Mabel, Dipper's gone missing."

Mabel's heart tore itself to shreds, shattered into even smaller pieces then sank down right to the core of the earth. A high-pitched wail of grief and fury rose from Mabel's throat as she threw herself into her great uncle's arms, breaking down into hysterical sobbing. She didn't feel any better when she felt Stan's arms embrace her closer.

"This-this c-c-c-c-can't be r-r-real," Mabel wept, taking rapid breaths and trying her hardest not to make the loud noises of a bawling baby. "T-t-t-t-this is all m-my fault."

"Calm down Mabel," Stan said soothingly, careful not to touch her near-fatal injuries. "We'll find Dipper and whoever did this to you."

Mabel's reply was a huge sob. How could this happen? One moment they were on their way to The Brook, fooling around and being idiots together, then the next she...

The lump of guilt built in her throat, not letting her swallow it down. It was her fault.

She was the one who found the statue. She was the one who ignored Dipper's warning. She was the one who set him free. She was the one who caused all this.

It was all her fault.

The thing Bill had said to her last year rang through her mind, making her hate herself more and cry louder.

 _You ditched him when he needed you._

If Bill hadn't knocked Dipper out and left him to die like he did with Mabel, there was only one other possible thing he could've done.

He had taken him.

* * *

 _The sky was painted beautiful reds, oranges and yellows, as if the heavens were a massive canvas of flame. Wide leaves showered the ground in dappled shadows which moved with the breeze._

 _Dipper found himself stalking onwards through the bracken on four delicate paws, talons unsheathed, so sharp the setting sun glistened off them dimly. The scent of a pheasant filled his nostrils, drawing him closer. For some strange reason, his tongue licked his lips at just the mere thought of the pheasant between his teeth._

 _He could see it now, unsuspectingly pecking at the ground. It was so close! Dipper's long tail started to wave back and forth over the ground in steady rhythm as every muscle in his body tensed to spring._

 _Suddenly the pheasant bird lifted its head in alarm. It smelt him! It started to sprint away from him, sensing the threat. No!_

 _Dipper gave an animal growl of annoyance and burst out of the cover of the plants, giving chase. His paws thundered on the ground as the world around him turned into a blur. He could feel the wind stream against him as he chased his pheasant. It darted underneath his paws and ran swiftly on for its life, Dipper hot on its tail._

 _The predator and the prey burst free from the forest and ran out onto black tar. It felt sharp under the paws, but Dipper was determined to catch the brown-feathered bird in front of him._

 _The wind got louder in his ears as he ran faster, faster and faster. Noise of an engine rose in volume with a beating heart. Dipper's eyes darted to the side to see the front of a car mere centimetres away from him and-_

Dipper jerked himself awake.

He had been dreaming.

Pain was the second thing Dipper became aware of after waking up from what seemed like an eternity. Though it a split second after, the pain all over his head like it was about to split open came second to the realisation that he was laying on a tarred road covered in soft oak leaves. The Gravity Falls forest only had pine trees.

What was he doing on a forest road? Was his dream real despite his inhuman form he'd taken in his mind? Did he really get hit by that car he'd seen just before the world decided to wake him up? So many questions and not enough answers.

Dipper managed to open his heavy eyelids, though it only increased his pounding headache. His vision was blurred, not letting him see anything. His limbs felt as if they were made of lead. He lifted his hand to his forehead, trying to take his own temperature. He closed his eyes again and let out a deep groan. A few long moments passed, time slowly toning down the pounding headache. Soon, Dipper couldn't really feel it anymore, as if it was never really there in the first place. He opened his eyes again, his blurry vision trying to sharpen and let him to see clearly. He tried to get up, but neither will nor physical strength allowed him to. Finally his eyes cleared out and let him see.

He was laying on his side on a road, full of holes and in poor condition. The road itself ran through a forest, covered in a duvet of deciduous leaves. Oaks and other strong trees stretched out towards the clear blue sky. Sunlight seeped through the leaves, making everything look like a fairytale illustration.

This was not Gravity Falls.

Dipper managed to lift his heavy head and look around. There was trees wherever he looked. His noodle arms helped him to push himself up to a sitting position. The sharp tar reminded him of the road in his wild dream, pricking into the palms of his hands. He took them away instantly once he was sitting up.

"Mabel?" he called, looking around for her. "Mabel where are you?"

There was no reply. Not a living soul was seen. Dipper began to panic.

"MABEL?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" he shouted out, his heart beginning to pound hard against his chest. Then he realised that he was asking the wrong question. "Where am... I?"

The air was still and calm, yet the trees rustled and creaked like old ships. They seemed to be asking the boy what was wrong, as if they were caring strangers on the streets. Dipper had to admit, their sounds were comforting and managed to calm him down slightly, even though he didn't know that forest at all.

The boy groaned and heaved himself up to his feet, noticing how all of his wounds from his fight with Bill had magically healed themselves in the time he was unconscious. How long had he been knocked out cold? However despite his worry, Dipper managed to notice how strong he physically felt. It was like all the unnecessary weakness had drained out of him, leaving behind only liquid steel.

Suddenly a familiar voice screamed in horror. It was Bill's scream. Dipper snapped his head round, and noticed a flash of gold behind the dense bushes. Of course the demon would have something to do with it. Dipper bit his lip, a thousand questions racing through his mind as he left the road and pushed through the bushes to see Bill leaning against a tree, his fists curled against the bark, his head hung in horror and disbelief.

The first question Dipper wanted to ask was if Bill knew where they were, but his tongue became twisted with confusion and what came out was "is something wrong?"

Bill echoed his question emotionlessly, then turned round to snarl- "OF COURSE SOMETHING'S WRONG! LOOK AT ME! I'M A HUMAN! AN ACTUAL HUMAN!"

Dipper blinked, for a split second not understanding why being human was such a bad thing. Then it occurred to him that humans didn't possess the multi-dimensional powers that Bill used to have, and humans could be killed easily while the demon was a being of pure energy and had no weaknesses.

Bill took a few deep breaths to calm down from his emotional eruption and relaxed himself with great conscious effort.

"Why wasn't it you?" Bill asked, taking a few steps towards the smaller boy. "Why?"

Still Dipper didn't have any clue what Bill was talking about. "My brain just spun a wheel of chance to figure out what you've just said," Dipper told him, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "Stop talking in riddles and get to the point."

Bill tutted with disappointment. "Here I thought you were smart enough to figure out riddles like that-" he snapped his fingers. "But as you wish Pine Tree. Why wasn't it you who shook my hand?"

"What difference would it've made?" Dipper spat, curiosity biting at him with this revelation.

Bill's shoulder sagged as he gave him the most unimpressed look he could've ever pulled.

"Oh what the hell, you're bound to find out anyway." He straightened himself and tried to regain his cool. "Do you honestly think all the symbols have the same amount of power? Did you really think the symbols I've mainly interacted with were a mere coincidence? Think Pine Tree, did you ever see me manipulate Shooting Star or Question Mark as I've done with you and Sixer?"

Dipper opened his mouth to protest, but found that he didn't have anything to say on that subject, so he closed it again.

"Shooting Star isn't a powerful symbol, quite common, actually," Bill took Dipper's silence as the cue to keep talking. "When she shook my hand, I took what little power she had to break free, but I had to resort to taking the same form as she had- a human. Now you-" he gave Dipper a hungry look. "If you had shaken my hand instead of your stupid sister, I would be out there now, making the world mine."

His words caused a shiver to go through Dipper as if some beast dragged ice-cold claws down his spine. The brown-haired boy forced himself to hold Bill's gaze to show him he wasn't scared of him anymore. He had beat him in a one-on-one fight, and at least that boosted what little confidence he had.

"But I didn't shake your hand," he pointed out harshly. "And I never will."

"You sure?" Bill shrugged and broke the mini-staring contest between them. "Fact it will be tough to find another Pine Tree, since those guys are always animals, but there are many other symbols that can grant me the power I need to get rid of... whatever this meatsack is."

Clearly his human form had taken a huge emotional impact on the demon, causing him to drop his guard and freak out. Dipper had never seen Bill be on edge like this, always so confident... Always so strong... Always knew what he was doing... Always knew what to say.

Sighing to ease of the awkwardness, Dipper finally loosened himself and looked back to the road behind him. "Where are we?" Finally he asked the one question he'd been meaning to ask.

However Bill's reaction was something he did not expect. "Do I look like I would know?" he snapped coldly, walking back and forth to ease an apparent uneasiness in his heart. "I was stuck in the mindscape for the entire time this dimension existed, do you think I'm an expert in geographical knowledge?"

Bile rose in Dipper's throat, anger beginning to boil inside his stomach. He didn't even try to convince himself that it was hunger bubbling to remind him that he needed to eat. "What do you mean you don't know? This happened because of you!"

"Calm down Pine Tree," said he. "I'm afraid half of the responsibility falls on you."

More fuel had been added to the boiling kettle of rage. "What do you mean it's half my fault? Where's Mabel? And what happened for us to end up like this?"

Bill took off his hat to dust it off and put it back on his head again. "You ask too many questions for your own good. Maybe you can tell me why we ended up here and not any other specific place in the world?"

"Do you seriously think I have any clue what happened in the last five minutes?"

Arguing wasn't Dipper's strong point, however he had gained practise from experience with Mabel, Stan and even Pacifica. He hated Bill with a passion, and that hate was now leaking out of him like water out of a tap. Dipper clenched his jaw so hard he thought his teeth would break off. Bill seemed more relaxed, but he was more on edge than Dipper was, evidently, it was like he feared something.

"You know what? I don't need you to get back to Gravity Falls," Dipper snapped after Bill called him a little kid. "Good riddance."

He began to pad away to follow the forest road he woke up on, but suddenly something grasped his neck and pulled it violently back as if Dipper was wearing a leash. Dipper choked and took a step back to ease the strangulation. He looked back, only to see a long chain of pure white electricity wrapped around his own neck, the electricity chain tensed as the other side linked to none other than Bill Cipher.

Both boys had the same expression of terrified surprise on their faces as they stared at each other in silence, not knowing what to say. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

They were chained together by some sort of curse.

Bound to each other.


	4. Chapter 4: Guide Us Home

Note: This is the chapter which introduces a new character, (yes- an OC). I promise I will keep her to as much a minimum as I can, but I will give her character development and interaction with the others. I hope it doesn't discourage you or anything. Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated! Xx

* * *

The curse's revelation was pretty hard to take in by both the boy and the demon. They had to walk together, not able to get away from the other for more than two metres.

The boys travelled stride by stride, following the road Dipper had woken up on. They were bound to run into something that way. For all they knew, they could've been whisked away different country across the globe. At least it taught them how to manage their anger.

They travelled in silence, not a word spoken between them. They had already beaten each other up and argued hotly, and they decided not to have a rematch in any of those situations, since Bill had explained that it was not just the physical beings that were bound together, it was the souls too. If one dies, the other dies too. Dipper had reassured them both that Ford knew how to undo curses like this, so all they needed to do was return to Gravity Falls and break the stupid curse with Ford's help. Dipper wasn't at all worried by the fact that both his great uncles would murder Bill on the spot. He may have problems with his mercy, but all the other people he knew didn't. Even Soos would tare Bill apart when he found out who was behind all this.

For some strange reason, Dipper could sense in his veins that Mabel was alive and well despite the state he last saw her in. She was breathing and... awfully distressed... He shook her feelings away.

Maybe it was just his need to link with his sister that was causing him to hallucinate, or if the feeling was genuine... he didn't know anymore. It was all so very confusing.

Bill also appeared to be lost in his own mind. He was making a strange, quiet noise in the base of his throat, something he had heard Bill do many times whilst deciding whether to do or to not do something. Maybe the whole 'being human' thing had got to him? What was going on in his head? Dipper wondered if he still could read minds, or if he still possessed any of his demon qualities besides his knowledge and strange eyes. But then again, if Bill still had the power to do literally anything if he put his mind to it, the curse would be reversed faster than you could say 'go'.

As for the forest road, it twined and spun through the forest without end, not a single vehicle passing by. Where were they? And where would that road lead them?

 _What am I gonna do?_ Dipper thought, blindly walking onward. The trees creaked after them, trying to give them comfort like strangers you ask for directions in a place you've never been to before. Their language was soothing, assuring Dipper that everything would be okay.

 _Everything will be okay. Things will get better. You'll be fine. Everything's fine._

The message was repeated over and over, as if the forest was sentient itself, just like the Gravity Falls forest. He had heard words when nobody else was there, whispering secrets that they've learned through the hundreds of years they've lived. It wasn't said out loud in the open as if he was listening to a person speak, but rather when he heard the creaks and groans of those trees he just... understood.

Suddenly a loud scream tore through the silence of the forest. The dreadful howl was so loud that it seemed to make Dipper's whole skull ring with the noise as if it was a bell being hit at the force of a speeding truck. It was an awful sound, one that could only be made by an animal of the wild, one that is free and reckless, who's horror of being trapped was yowled out in a ghastly wail of ultimate despair.

Both Bill and Dipper froze to the ground, the forest around them silencing at once.

 _Someone was hurt. Very hurt._

"Woah," Bill said once the scream turned into echoes that rang through the forest, leaving behind only despair and silence. "That was the coolest scream I've ever heard, and that's saying something."

However Dipper didn't say anything. His mind had gone blank. The scream had paralysed his senses, not letting him move. The sound rang in his head long after everything went silent again.

 _Someone was hurt. Badly hurt._

Suddenly a snap of the fingers recalled Dipper back from his mind. The boy realised that Bill was shaking his hand in front of his face.

"Earth to Pine Tree! Are you dead?" he chanted. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing!" Dipper replied hastily, though it was too quick. Bill straightened up and rolled his eyes.

"It's the scream, isn't it?" Bill asked, looking down at him as if he was a scared little kid. "I have to admit, I am a little curious on who screamed. I mean, I have to give them some credit."

So it was decided. Bill and Dipper pushed through the bushes towards where the sound came from. While it was clear that Bill was just curious, Dipper had some impossible thoughts. What would Mabel do? She would want to help whoever was hurt. She was naive at times, and would even help Bill by the looks of it. Dipper decided. If the creature was still alive, he would pull a Mabel and do his best to help it.

The brown haired boy pushed the bushes away, and froze upon seeing who had made the noise.

Dipper and Bill stood still, watching the trapped creature writhe in fruitless efforts to free itself.

Dipper instantly knew what this creature was. It wasn't mentioned in the journals, not even once, but it was a creature so common in stories, fairytales and myths that Dipper recognised it immediately.

It was a dragon, orange like sand at sunset, a little bigger than a riding horse. Two crooked black horns emerged from its head, long ears flattened against its scaly scalp, big holly-green eyes narrowed around oval-shaped pupils. The dragon tried to pull at the wire that was was keeping it bound to a tree, scarlet blood trickling down its amber scales where the thin metal wire cut into its neck. It was making unholy noises of pain and fury as it shook its head and pulled at the wire, but it was holding it fast, not letting it go. No matter how hard it tried, it couldn't break free.

"Now that is a beast," Bill remarked quietly, impressed. "Okay, we can go now."

However Dipper had other ideas.

Ignoring Bill's objection, Dipper stepped out of the bushes towards the writhing creature. It stopped instantly, narrowing its eyes at him. As the creature stood still, Dipper could finally get a good look at its face.

The snout was long and reptilian, just like depicted in the fairytales, a red diamond marked cleanly on its forehead. _Her_ forehead... Dipper had spent so much time with mythical creatures he knew how to tell a male from a female.

Dipper took another step forward. The dragon took a step back, drawing her scaly lips back into a snarl, showing off her many, sharp, crooked black teeth. She growled in such a low pitch that she sounded like an engine of a massive tank or monster truck, warning Dipper not to come any closer.

She was scared.

"I can get you out of there if you let me come near," Dipper said calmly, lifting up his arms to let the animal know he didn't mean harm. He could sense Bill looking at him as if he was some sort of lunatic, which was reasonable on his part. Dipper could feel his heart thumping against his chest again. Why was he doing this? Something made him, but now it was too late to back away. The beast had seen him.

The dragon had clearly understood him, for thoughtfulness flashed across her eyes. The ten-second silence that followed felt like ten hours as the dragon tried to decide whether to trust this boy. Dipper remained silent, not even sure what he was expecting.

The dragon's muscles relaxed as she stood up from her crouched position to sit down calmly, her long, mythical-appropriate arrow-tipped tail curled round her paws. She nodded her head in agreement as she made a quiet noise, letting Dipper come close.

The boy shook, realising that he had no idea how to undo snare traps. He decided that would figure it out. This was his chance. Mabel had always teased him for not being able to form friendships with animals, but this wasn't usual taming of cats, dogs or pigs. This was fighting to earn a mystical creature's trust, and he knew the untrustworthy personalities the many fabled beasts from his own experience.

His hands shook as he looked closely at the wire. He breathed in relief as he realised that this was a simple contraption. "Thank goodness this is simple," he breathed, lifting his hands to touch the blood-soaked wire.

The dragon's scales were warm, not like that of a snake or lizard, but like a mammal. Dipper ignored his own fear and grasped the end of the wire which interlocked in a circle. The blood made it slip open with ease. The noose loosened and let Dipper pull it over the dragon's head, releasing her from the trap.

Dipper tried to ignore the staring dragon as he tore the trap off the tree and threw it to the ground, stomping on it for good measure. He turned back to the dragon, only to see her looming over him like a dark shadow.

She ignored her bleeding neck and began to walk steadily towards him, talons glistening in the seeping sunlight, eyes narrowed. Dipper whimpered and backed away, realising that setting this creature free might've not been that a good idea.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Dipper wailed, finding that he had pressed his back against a thick tree trunk, the dragoness cornering him. She lifted a glistening amber paw and drew a single black talon towards his face. Dipper whimpered and tried to lean away from her as the talon neared to his face, however the dragoness didn't hurt him. Her single scaly finger lifted Dipper's fringe to reveal the constellation birthmark on his forehead.

For that moment the whole dragon seemed to go rigid with shock, her emerald eyes blank as if they were seeing through time itself.

She stumbled backwards as if Dipper had severely burned her. There was an unbearable tic in her eyes, as if she had been longing... Longing for something that had been violently torn away from her like the plucking of a feather. Her mouth was open, as if she wanted to say something, anything, but couldn't find the words.

Her reaction unsettled the boy, who looked to Bill for answers, but once again, the demon had nothing to say, also giving the newcomer a confused glare. Dipper looked back to the dragon, who looked at him, then at her claws, and then at him again. Did she... Recognise him?

"Uh... Should... Should I know you?" Dipper asked, finally breaking the awkward silence between them. The dragoness purred sadly, but then shook her head guiltily.

"Then what was that about?" Bill snapped at her, crossing his arms to stand beside Dipper. "Any fool can figure out what that reaction meant."

The dragoness raised her back in defence like some sort of feline, teeth bared at him. It was weird how some creatures could go from docile to hostile in mere moments. Dipper panicked and tried to calm the situation down. It _was_ his problem if Bill wanted to die, because if this dragoness killed him out of agitation, he would die as well.

"What is your name?" Dipper asked, not knowing if the creature could even speak.

Thankfully she calmed down and hid her teeth behind scaly lips. She noticed a bush of dying pale yellow flowers and padded to it. With a delicate paw, she pulled off one of the yellow flowers and held it up.

Dipper remembered what the flowers had a name... there was a book on plants back in the Mystery Shack, and- granted he didn't read it as he read Ford's journals- he had read it... and remembered that those yellow european bush flowers were called primroses.

"Primrose?" Dipper guessed, and the dragoness nodded her head, dropping the dying flower to the ground. He suddenly had an idea. "Do you know a place called Gravity Falls?"

To his relief, Primrose nodded her head again. "Can you take us there?"

His heart leapt when the amber dragoness nodded her head and pointed deeper into the forest with her sharp tail. Her wings swept back, the gust of wind threw off the hats off the boys' heads. With a weird sound, Primrose began to walk further into the bracken, flicking her tail to command the humans to follow her.

Dipper was about to trot willingly after her, when he felt a hand grasp his arm tightly, stopping him from moving.

"You really think that creature knows what Gravity Falls is?" Bill hissed quietly so that the dragoness wouldn't hear.

"She said she did!" Dipper objected, his arm going numb where Bill was holding him. "Bill, let me go, you're cutting off my blood supply."

Bill let him go reluctantly, but his scowl remained on his face. "I don't trust her, she looks very shady, and being an OC doesn't help her situation either and-"

"Do you want to get back to Gravity Falls and get rid of this curse or what?" Dipper snapped coldly at him, so forcefully that Bill flinched. He realised that Dipper had made a very good point.

"Fine. But know that when this curse is gone, I won't hesitate to kill you and everyone you love," he threatened darkly. Now it was Dipper who flinched, but told himself that Bill had no chance against his family and friends when they were all united. After all, there was only one of him and many of them.

Primrose snarled loudly, reminding them to follow her. With a dark glare, Dipper left Bill's side and padded willingly after her, grateful to finally have someone else for company other than the demon. It was brilliant that she could guide them back to where they needed to go. Having a guide was certainly better than wondering the world, totally lost.

 _Hang in there Mabel,_ he thought to himself. _I'm coming home._

* * *

Mabel had cried herself to sleep that night, barricading herself in her small attic room and crying out all the tears she could shed. Her own bed was taken by Waddles, who didn't trust himself to sleep next to his mistress when she was in a state like this.

Granted, he was worried beyond words, sick with the concern of an animal for their human. This was the first time Waddles had seen her this broken down, his tiny pig mind recalling the time earlier the previous day on how happy she was, fooling round as she always did.

Now all that was gone, as if another personality had entered Mabel and was pulling at the strings. Waddles knew of her 'Sweater Town' habit, but now it had just gotten worse. Mabel had clambered onto Dipper's bed and used her own sweater as the duvet, making quiet sobbing noises and not responding to anything the other humans tried to say to her.

Do you want anything? _No response._

Are you hungry? _Silence._

Waddles twitched his nose. Even when his human was sleeping, her fear-scent hung round her like a poisonous gas and could be smelt by any animal within a hundred feet away. The pig's beady black eyes closed as he curled into a comfortable position on Mabel's bed.

He may be a dumb pig, but nobody messed with his mistress.

However he couldn't sleep. He was thinking. Mabel had told everyone what had happened, how Bill had awoken and how he'd taken Dipper.

Waddles was happy that Mabel had finally gotten to sleep, her chest rising and falling steadily under her sweater, but who knew if she was able to sleep soundly? The pig grunted and sat up. She was his soulmate for pig's sake! His one true mistress. He would help her as much as he could.

Jumping down from his bed, Waddles waddled over to the next bed and scrambled onto the next bed with great effort. Sitting down next to her, he straightened. He would guard her at all costs, protect her from Bill. The demon would have to go through him if he wanted to get his awful, stinking hands on Mabel.


	5. Chapter 5: Set Fire to the Forest

Guess who's back, back again, Phouka's back, tell your friends. Yup, I'm updating again. Not much to say here, other than let me know what you think!

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The flames flickered eerily against the pitch black of the forest, filling the silence with soft crackling of dragonfire.

Dipper couldn't sleep that night. He had no idea why, but the birthmark atop his forehead was tingling with some sort of nostalgic energy, even though Dipper fully knew that he'd never been between these trees before. He had no idea how Bill could sleep soundly through a situation like this, his chest rising and falling steadily, his face illuminated by the flames. Of course he felt safe everywhere, he didn't yet grasp the fact that humans were mortal beings, and could be killed very easily.

Perhaps he felt safe in the presence of Primrose, who herself was a massive predator with so many natural weapons it felt like overkill. However Dipper wasn't convinced, the dragoness was also sleeping, curled round with her sharp tail laid neatly over her nose.

Dipper hugged his knees and stared into the fire, rocking himself gently back and forth. Was Mabel wondering where he was too? Did she even know that he was alive and not held prisoner in some dungeon in the mindscape by Bill? Could she sense those things through their twinness?

What was she doing now? _Sleeping, probably,_ he told himself, what else would she be doing at night?

He had lost track of time, and telling time from the sky was hopeless thanks to dark clouds covering the moon and stars. Maybe it was already early morning or just before midnight, he didn't know.

The darkness pressed on, only drowned out by by the light from the fire. Dipper did not want to think about the creatures that lurked in the darkness like liquid shadows, only kept at bay by the light.

A soft breeze picked up, pulling at Dipper's pine tree hat and trying to pull it off his head. Up until now, he'd thought that Bill had called him 'Pine Tree' because of the symbol his hat bore, but since Bill had mentioned that Pine Trees are always animals, he wasn't so sure. He wasn't an animal, was he? He took it off his head and placed it in front of him.

If he was to understand anything on this journey, he was gonna have to throw everything he thought he knew about everything out the window and take a step back.

This was not Gravity Falls, and its strange laws didn't matter anymore. Dragons existed which he never saw back in the strange town, so was there other magnificent creatures beyond even this? He needed to know more than he already did. He wanted to know.

He caught himself before his mind would carry him to some impossible extremes. He needed to get home to Mabel, not wonder round god knew where.

Suddenly a strange noise made him snap his head towards his sleeping companion. Bill was stirring in his sleep. What was he dreaming about?

It was Bill's first time sleeping, so Dipper was curious what he was dreaming about. What would a chaotic brain demon dream about? Whatever it was, however, it clearly wasn't good. Mabel had shuffled like that when she was having a nightmare...

Dipper put his hat back on his head and tried to ignore him. Leaves began to fall as the wind picked up stronger. They were extremely dry thanks to the hot summer sun during the day. Some of them flew straight into the campfire, catching on fire instantly, withering and dying. However one of those leaves managed to get out of the flames and land on the dry ground, the fire spreading to the forest floor.

Dipper gasped and leapt up to stomp the flames out, but it was already too late. The shining amber flames were already consuming a very old oak tree, flames reaching up to the sky like devil's fingers.

"FIRE!" Dipper shrieked in panic, stumbling back away from the intense heat. "WAKE UP! THERE'S FIRE!"

Both Bill and Primrose snarked awake at his yowl, still sleepy at first and confused at why Dipper was acting like the forest was on fire. It took them a few moments to comprehend that the forest was indeed on fire.

"Holy jumping Jesus on a breadstick Pine Tree what did you do!?" Bill exclaimed, stumbling to get onto his feet.

"It's not my fault!" Dipper defended himself as he followed Primrose, who had already turned tail and fled, into the darkness, Bill and the fire hot on their tail.

Suddenly the darkness had all melted away, and the whole forest seemed to give off its own, threatening firelight. Smoke drifted off into the sky as the temperatures rose drastically.

Running through a flaming forest was certainly something Dipper had never done before, but the fear and urgency that came with it was worryingly familiar to him. He had broken out into a sweat thanks to the incredibly hot temperature. He could see the flames at both his sides, faster than any human could run. Lungs screamed for pure air, after just a few brief moments of inhaling the smoke-infested air, his eyes watering to get the smoke out of his eyes. Bill was coughing beside him, also having the trouble of normal functioning in the wildfire. If they weren't going to die by fire, they were definitely going to die by smoke inhalation.

Something snapped above them, and a flaming branch came crashing down, blocking their path. Dipper's hands flew up to his face to protect himself from the embers that came flying out towards them, skidding to a halt.

"We're... We're trapped..." He choked out to Bill, horrified beyond any words. He looked to him, and found that Bill was frantically looking for a way out, however found none.

"Let's flip a coin to see how this turns out," he deadpanned, apparently thinking that this was an appropriate time for a joke. "Heads- we die. Tails... We die. Well shit! Might as well say your goodbyes now kid."

Before anyone else could do anything however, a dark shape jumped over the fire in front, fire in her eyes.

Primrose ran up to them in the circle of enclosing flames, and lowered her head with an urgent sound. It didn't take an animal expert to figure out what she was telling them.

Dipper clambered hastily onto her back, Bill shortly following behind. They sat between her back spikes and before her wings, like a riding horse. Before the flames could reach any higher, Primrose leapt over the obstacle and into what was left of the lush green forest.

The wildfire was fast, could outrun any human. But could it outrun a dragon?

Primrose dashed forward in unsteady bounds, the humans on her back clinging onto her for dear life as the fire chased them ceaselessly. All three hearts pounded with adrenalin and fear, blood pounding in their heads. Dipper's sweaty hands clung onto the warm dragon scales, panting as if he himself was running. The flames were definitely closer now, almost touching them with great tongues of heat.

No. He couldn't die now! What about Mabel? He needed to get back to Mabel, not die!

Suddenly the trees ended at a cliff, below was a vast lake that stretched out and ended just before the horizon did.

However despite this, Primrose didn't even hesitate before throwing herself and the two humans off the cliff.

Her wings threw open and began to flap so Primrose looked like a giant reptilian humming bird, slowly making her way over the water down below, away from the fire. They were doing it! They were gonna make it to the other side before the fire!

However the young dragoness wasn't used to carrying two humans on her back, and the extra weight was too much for her to carry into air.

Before Dipper knew it, they were plummeting from the sky at a greater speed than they were travelling at through the forest.

The sudden coldness of the water was such a shock that Dipper thought he must've died for that second. His lungs burned as he tumbled deeper into the cold depths. His body gave a jolt, his limbs thrashing to push himself towards the surface. A glint of gold caught his eyes, and his heart leapt when he saw that Bill was struggling. Of course a previously non-physical demon wouldn't know how to swim.

 _You're not gonna die!_ Dipper numbly thought as he swam over to him. _We've still got a long way to go!_

Bubbles of air escaped from his nose and clenched teeth as Dipper wrapped his noodle arms around Bill's torso and dragged them both to the surface. Their heads broke the water surface, taking deep gasps of air as they emerged from the water, coughing and spluttering out any water and smoke that had gotten into their lungs. Primrose wasn't too far off, swimming in a doggy paddle towards the shore, calling in her strange dragon voice to swim with her to the shore, something both Bill and Dipper were beyond glad to do.

"How the fuck do I swim?" Bill panicked, desperately trying to keep his head above the water. He began to curse as he panicked more.

"Just kick your legs," Dipper instructed, demonstrating. Bill copied sloppily, extremely slow. Water got shallower and soon shallow enough for swimming to turn into dragging. Dipper mustered his remaining strength to drag himself to the shallowest waters and collapsed with Bill and Primrose at his sides. Exhaustion weighed on his eyelids, the comforting feeling of the fact that water could not catch fire closing his eyes and pulling him into the welcoming arms of sleep.

* * *

Hours went by as Waddles guarded a sleeping Mabel with his life. Stan had come to check on her around midnight, but Waddles greeted him with a ferocious pig snarl and a warning to leave and not disturb her.

Suddenly Mabel gasped awake, breaking into a cold sweat. Her deep breaths unsettled Waddles greatly, who pressed his nose to her thumping chest in an attempt to comfort her.

"Waddles?" Mabel stammered through her tears and gasping breaths. "You're here?"

Waddles nodded his head and snuggled up to her, finding that she was incredibly warm, much warmer for a normal human temperature, he knew that from the time Dipper had a very high temperature and had to stay off school.

Mabel gave a weak laugh, which turned to a strange smoke-infested cough. "I just had an awful nightmare..." she managed to say weakly, cradling Waddles closer to her. "There was fire... fire..."

That word was scary, such a threatening word. Fire. If Mabel had dreamed about fire, not good.

"I don't know why..." Mabel continued, more tears rolling down her face. "But I think Dipper's in a fire..." She gave a huge sob. "I can feel it..."

Waddles gave her face a tender lick, the tears salty on his tongue. He wanted to tell her that her brother was probably fine, and that they would find a way to get him back from wherever Bill had taken him, but all he managed was oinks and squeals of a basic pig. She managed to laugh again, beginning to stroke his head tenderly. "It was so real..." said she. "Like I was actually standing there... in fire. Waddles, do you think Dipper had escaped wherever Bill had taken him to?"

He was sure of it. Waddles had spent most of his life with the Pines twins, and had to admit that both of them were actually pretty freaking tough- he had no doubt Dipper would wriggle free from Bill's demon clutches.

Mabel lay herself down on Dipper's bed again, Waddles at her side, and slowly dozed off to sleep again. Poor thing...


	6. Chapter 6: Blood by Blood

Sorry that I'm re-uploading this chapter, I just needed to fix some things I wasn't satisfied with. Thank you all for everything and enjoy! Xx

* * *

There are no such words to describe the shock that comes with waking up to a forest of ash and coming to the realisation that you had slept laying in the shallow waters of a lake in the middle of nowhere. Then seeing your unlikely companion and your unlikely guide laying next to you, tattered, burnt and torn like yourself and looking as if they were on the brink of death.

That is exactly what Dipper had felt when he woke up that morning. No birds sang, no creatures rustled in the coarse burnt forest. Suddenly all the safety he had felt when he first woke up in that forest had disappeared under a tidal wave of guilt and dread. They caused this.

They had to travel through this constant reminder of their piddly mistake of letting a campfire burn through the night. Where would they find food now? All the plants were gone, and all the animals either died or fled. Maybe it would've been better for them to have died in that fire.

 _Don't think that_ , Dipper told himself sternly, turning to lay on his side to face an unconscious Primrose. _You need to get back to Mabel... you need too..._

His body yowled defiance as Dipper heaved himself to his feet, tattered clothes and muddy brown hair clinging to his face thanks to the freezing lake water. How hadn't hypothermia caught him already?

If this was the way their journey was gonna go, he wanted it to be over as soon as possible. It was weighing on his very sanity.

A quiet groan made him look back. Primrose had begun to struggle against her pained muscles in fruitless efforts to get up. She looked like a reanimated corpse in the dim morning light. A dishevelled figure she was.

"Are you alright?" Dipper hazard asking. The dragoness shook her head and managed to push herself up to a sitting position. She was shaking from head to toe. "I'm sorry about asking you to come with us," he apologised, somehow feeling guilty for dragging the dragoness along. Primrose however made a funny noise of objection and shook herself like a dog, splattering droplets of water everywhere. She turned to waltz into the ashes and signalled that she would be coming back shortly.

So once again, Dipper was left alone with Bill, who also started to stir. However he pretended to be asleep when he noticed Dipper watching. The brown-haired boy sighed in disbelief.

"Bill get up," Dipper told him. Bill swatted a soaking hand at him.

"Let me die..." he groaned, pressing his palms to his tired eyes. "Let me die alone..."

 _This calls for drastic measures,_ Dipper decided. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs to the brim with oxygen. Dipper had a natural high-pitched scream which he wasn't particularly proud of, but was useful in various situations like this. His pubescent voice cracked multiple times like a crow having a fit.

Bill sat bolt upright, his hands darting to his ears. "Alright alright! I'm up! Stop screaming ear-rape already!"

Dipper coughed to get his vocal cords back into one piece, dripping droplets of water from his soaking hair and wet clothes. "Let's get out of the water."

Bill grunted unhappily and dragged himself out of the water, tiny water droplets dripping down his face.

"Where's the dragon?" Bill asked through chattering teeth. He hardly coped anymore, and it showed drastically. When he broke free from his stone prison, he had been a magnificent creature, hair sticking out from his head in a dazzling hairstyle, power reflected in his very eyes. However now he looked like a mere reflection through a dusty, broken mirror. His vibrant golden hair was now dusty, clung to his head in wetness, his hat and cane disappeared- which was somehow the only power Bill was left with- and his tailored golden jacket left behind. It wasn't just Bill either. Dipper was also tattered and torn, his clothes bearing the marks of being burnt and his whole state was a ragged mess. Both boys had so much in common now, the very mirror-image of each other. Hungry, exhausted and still smelled strongly of smoke.

Dipper didn't even look at him. "She said she'll be back," he told him simply, attempting to dry himself off like an animal would, but only attempted to make himself colder.

This was only their first night on their journey. If things carried on like this, they were as good as dead.

"Gravity Falls better be close," Bill snarled, trying to get some warmth into his arms by rubbing them. "This has got to be the worst possible-"

He didn't get to finish. A large, lithe amber shape snaked out of what was left of the forest, something hanging limply from her jaws. Even Primrose was now shabby and bedraggled like they were, limping greatly on all four legs as if she had been running on shattered glass. The dragoness lay the something she had been carrying onto the dry ground and spread it out.

Three dead rabbits...

Dipper's stomach gave a jolt at the sight. How could Primrose kill something? He caught himself again. The rabbits were prey, meant to be eaten.

"Well it seems you aren't as useless as you look," Bill shrugged and picked up a single rabbit. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

Dipper cringed as his companion pulled apart the rabbit with his brute strength and took a bite out of the raw meat. "Uh, Primrose? Could you set my share on fire?"

The dragoness, who had started to eat her share, choked at his strange request and gave him a quizzical look.

"Please?" Dipper didn't feel like explaining the concept of cooking food to anyone right now. Thankfully Primrose didn't ask any questions, mainly because she couldn't speak, and opened her mouth. A tiny ember of amber flame hit the rabbit dead on, causing its fur to catch fire and cook.

"Why did you ask her to do that?" Bill asked with a shrug, continuing to eat the disgusting-looking raw-red rabbit meat.

"Humans don't eat raw meat," Dipper told him simply. "You might get food poisoning if you don't cook it first and-"

"That's just human weakness," Bill cut across him. "I'm a demon, remember? Human sicknesses don't apply to me."

Dipper shrugged, hoping that the curse wouldn't make him share Bill's dumb consequences. He assured himself that the curse only made sure that he died when Bill died, it didn't say anything about sicknesses and poisoning.

Patting away the flames from his food, he felt a pang of relief to find that his idiot plan of setting his food on fire had actually worked.

The rabbit meat was bland without any preparation, however certainly better than eating it raw. He gave himself some silent praise for coming up with such a clever idea.

Despite exhaustion weighing down each of the three, they managed to muster the strength to travel through the burnt remains of the forest. The hot temperatures of the summer sun dried them off well, better than any hairdryer could've done.

Some plants weren't completely gone, they were charred and black, but somewhat still alive. Dipper knew that the forest would grow back in time, lush green would replace charred black, just like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

As time drew by, the ground began to slope upwards, the air getting thinner. Was this a mountain or just a hill? It didn't really matter, because it was steep and difficult to get up. However Primrose lead them on, gaining power as she walked. She would snap at the human boys if they fell too far behind.

"Hey Crescent Moon!" Bill yelled the seventh time Primrose meowed at them to get a move on. "Not all of us have the stamina of a freakin' dragon!"

Crescent Moon? Wasn't that Gruncle Stan's symbol? Or were there more creatures in the world that could take their symbols? Probably, since six fingers weren't that uncommon in the animal kingdom, and Bill had mentioned that Pine Trees, his symbol, were always animals.

It was kinda confusing, since Dipper was a human being, he was sure, and not some kind of mindless animal- no offence to animals. But the fact that many others were capable of fulfilling the symbols of the Cipher Wheel killed the feeling of special destiny Dipper had always felt. And now that he knew that Primrose shared a symbol with Gruncle Stan, that got him thinking. Were all the other townsfolk marked with symbols too?

Primrose however had no knowledge of the Cipher Wheel and its symbols, and was pretty confused on why Bill had called her that. Another weird noise gurgled in her throat, but only for a split second before she turned and continued to snake through the destroyed forest.

"Man she does not listen, does she?" Bill complained, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"She's just our guide, not our pet," Dipper corrected him. He had been trying to keep his cool for who knew how many hours now, which was no easy feat since Bill was more annoying than Mabel playing Darude:Sandstorm on the kazoo. However he was doing a pretty fine job of it if he does say so himself. "At least we know we're on the right course. If Primrose really does know where Gravity Falls is, then we'll be home faster than it takes to brew up a jug full of Mabel-juice."

Soon the sloping hill ended and levelled, but the ashes of the dark trees also ended too, fading into the echoes of undamaged heather and bracken, which was a nice change from the forest graveyard. Primrose was sitting there on top of the hill, expecting them. She was smiling.

A spring found its way into Dipper's step as he made his way to her, then realised that she was staring off into the distance. He then saw.

They were so high that they could see everything... There was forest as far as eye could see in every direction, the black ashes covering only a mere fraction of it. The rest was so green Dipper had never seen anything like it.

His mouth flopped open like a fish's, not able to describe anything he was seeing. It was beautiful...

However the cloak of beauty only lasted mere seconds. There was not a town in sight, just deciduous trees in east, south, west and north and all the directions in between. The Gravity Falls forest just had pine trees, fir trees; trees with needles. Evergreens and coniferous. Not one was seen...

Bill must've figured that out too, since he was quick to point it out in the form of an offensive snap. Primrose looked appalled at his tone, just like a mother disappointed in her son. For an answer, she pointed north with a wide bat-like wing.

Dipper narrowed his eyes and put a hand above his eyes to get the low sun out of his vision.

There in the distance was dirty white smoke, and his heart leapt. _Fire!_ However upon further inspection he noticed that the smoke was lighter than the wildfire smoke he had spent the previous night in, and it was moving along the horizon. What the heck? Then it dawned on him.

It wasn't a fire. It was train smoke.

Did humanity still use coal-fuelled trains? Perhaps? He had heard that electric trains were quite expensive.

"If we catch that train will it take us to Gravity Falls?" Dipper asked hesitantly, noticing that the land was much darker now and the sun lower. He breathed a sigh of relief when Primrose nodded her head in agreement.

"Wait, what's that?" Bill pointed to the west, turning all attention to something entirely different.

"You've never seen a sunset before?" Dipper questioned, but couldn't help gaze in awe at the horizon. He'd never actually seen a full sunset like this before, the trees and buildings were always blocking his view from a full horizon. The sky had turned orange and red, as if the whole horizon was on fire. The sun was bright, but dimming as it set below the land. The wind started to pick up again, blowing Dipper's hair back away from his face, freshness slapping him in the face. Soon the red melted below the horizon, replaced by dark navy, then black, stars stamped out clearly and the half moon glowing brighter than Dipper had ever seen it glow.

"In all my years I would never have thought..." Bill mumbled under his breath.

They had decided to spend the night out at the top of the heather hill under the stars, where northern lights began to wisp at the sky, not quite blue, not quite green, not quite purple, but an amalgamate of colour that looked like Mabel had spilt multiple tubes of paint over a black canvas.

"You've never seen a sunset before?" Dipper repeated his question once they've finished gathering materials worthy of a campfire and getting all the dry plants away from any possible way of staring another wildfire.

"Of course I have," Bill replied, dumping the few unburnt sticks they had found in the forest below into a neat pile. "Just never appreciated it before I guess." Thoughtfulness flashed through his narrow golden eyes for a split second before he shook it away. "Besides, you gotta admit it was pretty cool and-"

Before he could finish his sentence a great burst of fire was shot towards the bundle of sticks, exploding on impact.

Exploding dragonfire... Dipper had never seen that before.

Primrose made a deep laughing noise in her throat, sitting comfortably on a nest of plants she had made for herself and continued to listen to the boys' conversation.

"Anyways," Bill continued, his face now illuminated in a pale light of orange. "The view here ain't bad. I think I'll leave it alone once the world is mine again. Maybe this dimension was better than I ever gave it credit for and-"

Once again he didn't get to finish what he was saying. A wave a nausea hit him, and he went pale in the face. Maybe even slightly green. His hand flew up to press against his forehead in a lame attempt to make himself feel a little bit better.

"Ugh... why do I feel so... awful...?" he groaned, but only earned a large eyeroll from Dipper, who was not impressed.

Great. Just perfect. "I told you not to eat the meat raw," he snapped at him. "You've gotten yourself food poisoning."

"The what now?" Bill raised both eyebrows, now clutching his stomach.

Dipper rolled his eyes again. "Food poisoning, the aftermath of eating raw meat. I told you about it."

Bill's stomach made an unhappy noise, causing its owner to freak out. "What do I do? Help?"

A faint memory floated up to the front of Dipper's mind. Last year he, Mabel, Soos and Wendy had gotten food poisoning from unknown forest berries, and Ford had made them eat charcoal to ease the bellyache. Maybe that herb trick could work on Bill since he was human too? Now burnt charcoal was everywhere thanks to the wildfire. Maybe some good things would arise from the ashes after all?

He lead the way downhill to the burnt forest, where he began to tare off the charcoal off the trees. Bill wanted to question everything, but kept his mouth tightly shut. Eventually he couldn't resist asking.

"What are you doing?"

Dipper shrugged. "If you had taken my sister's power to turn yourself human, then it might be possible for you to share many biological characteristics with her. Mabel has a pretty strong immune system, so by that logic, so should you."

Bill looked more confused than he was before.

"And I'm picking charcoal off the trees because it helps with bellyache," Dipper continued in his smart-voice. "Mabel and I used to get poisoned all the time, and Great Uncle Ford would always make us eat charcoal to soothe the pain."

"Wait Sixer gave you burnt wood? Was he trying to kill you?"

"Eat," Dipper changed the subject, thrusting the burnt black wood into Bill's hands. He looked at the charcoal he was offered then at Dipper and back again.

"You really expect me to eat burnt wood?"

Dipper nodded his head.

Bill narrowed his eyes in suspicion, trying to decide whether Dipper was trying to poison him further or genuinely help. "You're lucky I feel absolutely horrible," he said while he popped the charcoal into his mouth hesitantly.

"If you weren't feeling horrible you wouldn't have to eat it," Dipper remarked.

Bill shrugged and mumbled "Touché." He swallowed and examined himself, expecting some magic to happen. "Why is nothing happening?"

What an idiot.

"I said it will help, not that it will cure you," said Dipper. "In reality it will take a few days for you to recover."

"A few days!" Bill spat.

"A few days," Dipper repeated emotionlessly. "Got any other problems other than your overall stupidity?"

Anger flared in Bill's eyes turning them red for a split second. If he still had his demon powers, Dipper would be scared, but no fear was felt.

This wasn't gonna end well.

Primrose made a lion-like roar from the top of the uncharted wold, warning them both not to escalate things any further, but there was no need. Bill had already rushed into the cover of the burnt trees to make an awfully loud vomiting noise.

"Well that's disgusting," Dipper mumbled under his breath and turned to see Primrose padding down towards him, her usually bright amber scales shining a dark silver in the moonlight. "Bill's gotten himself food poisoning," he told her as she sat down next to him. "I told him not to eat the meat raw."

They both listened for a few moments to Bill struggling, both pulling overrated disgust faces. "That's why I asked you to set mine on fire," Dipper continued speaking to drown out the awful sickness noises. "It seems Bill has absolute jack shit knowledge when it comes to human biology. He had been in human bodies before, notably mine- long story not worth explaining- but to my knowledge he's never really survived as one. He'd just ditch his vessel once it's been damaged enough."

Primrose gave him her full attention, her long ear flicked to let him know that she was impressed. But Bill's reaction to Dipper's smartness was less on the encouraging side.

"Oh shut up Pine Tree, you hardly know anything..." His voice was frail and weak, which didn't suit the former god of chaos.

"I am a thirteen-year-old boy bound to a demon with a dragon as a guide; your argument is invalid," Dipper called back, not letting him win any more arguments.

"Listen here you little shit," Bill snapped as forcefully as he could. "I am an all-powerful demon of pure energy and no weaknesses, you have no idea who you're messing with-"

He was interrupted by another round of intense vomit. Bill's threats achieved nothing more than a roll of eyes from both the boy and the dragon. Even Primrose was getting tired of Bill's ignorance.

"Bill you're human!" Dipper told him flat out straight. "You've got food poisoning! We nearly died in a fire and you nearly drowned! Face the facts, you're human for good! A real, mortal, human being!"

"THAT'S IT FUCKER I'M COMING OVER THERE!" Bill yelled angrily, a red glow erupting from the depths of the burnt black forest. Bill bounded over to him, his usually calm golden eyes now glowing a threatening bloody scarlet, giving off some sort of red gas in his fury. He looked slightly cross... scratch that- he looked very, unbelievably raging furious.

Dipper fell back onto his behind and shuffled to get away from him, the truth finally dawning on him. Bill had gone into a rage.

Accidents can happen when one goes into a rage. All reasoning is forgotten, anger blinding any logical sight. Friends can kill friends. Family can hurt family. Enemies can destroy enemies.

Bill may have been stripped of his powers, but that didn't mean he was harmless. Humans were dangerous even without a murderous past.

When Bill leapt at him, he looked like a golden red-eyed wolf going for the kill. Life flashed before Dipper's eyes as he screamed, arms flying up to shield himself from the threat. He waited for the blow that would end both of their lives.

But it never came.

He opened his eyes a fraction, only to see Bill lifted off the ground by the back of his shirt collar. He swung his arms and wailed at Primrose to let him go, but the dragoness had an iron grip. She had no idea about the curse, but no morally sane person would just stand by and watch someone hurt someone if they could do something about it.

Her tail was lashing in slight annoyance and she looked to Dipper. There was no animal naiveness shown in her this time, just disappointment. She swept her tail over Dipper, leading him back to the camp, Bill still dangling from her jaws.

Usually Dipper would object to being treated like this, but when the one treating you like a child is a massive, agitated predator dragon, you tended to keep your mouth shut and pad after them with your tail between your legs.

By the time they had made it back to the crackling campfire, all the dangerous red vanished from Bill's eyes like mist disappearing into thin air. Instead he gave in and allowed himself to be carried like a little kitten- he was too exhausted, too tired and too sick to complain any longer. Dipper himself trudged at Primrose's ankle, scared to say anything else. He knew he should be glad that this creature was his friend and not his foe, but now he wasn't too sure.

Bill had tried to kill him twice now, and who knew, maybe he would succeed after so many tries. Maybe he had lied about the 'if I die, you die' thing to keep Dipper from changing his mind and killing him instead? Bill was not above lying, he knew that all too well.

The warmth of the fire was comforting, this time the plants safely out of harm's way. Primrose lay Bill down on the soft heather and bracken tenderly, as if laying a glass ornament on bubble wrap. He was confused, shocked even, that he had been treated in such a way. He wasn't used to being treated like that, that was for sure.

Neither was Dipper, actually. His own mother had never yelled, not even when he really deserved it. She just became deathly sweet and thought out cruel punishments depending on what they've done, usually a ban on all electronics- for Dipper- or to sit in a corner all alone, not allowed to move or speak- for Mabel. Now Primrose, she was harsh and to the point, not afraid to roar and jump into action when needed. He had no idea which one to classify as a more motherly response to the current situation, but he was more used to his own mother's parental ways.

Dipper took to reassuring himself to get to sleep.

At least they knew where they were heading. The train wasn't that far off- a few days travel at best. And now all that mattered was to sleep with one eye open, because his trust in his companions was dimming quickly.

* * *

Mabel was never a strict timekeeper, but she had been keeping an exact time record of the time Dipper had been gone.

Eighty-one hours... eighteen minutes... and eight seconds...

Eighty-one hours... eighteen minutes... and nine seconds...

Eighty-one hours... eighteen minutes... and ten seconds...

The dream she had a few nights ago had scared the living daylights out of her. It was so real! As if she had really stood there in that ring of fire, really felt the heat on her skin and inhaled all that smoke. Her lungs still hurt, causing her to cough once or twice, but as the hours, minutes and seconds snailed by, it gradually wore off on its own.

For some strange reason, she was convinced that Dipper, wherever he was, had been in contact with some big fire. She could feel it in her veins.

The knock on the door was less than welcoming, since the Mystery Shack was "closed for repairs" to ward off any human socialisation for the troubled family. Usually Mabel would go around being a social butterfly, but now unwanting was beating along with her blood. She didn't want to see anyone right now. Neither did Ford, apparently, since he was fast asleep at the kitchen table, drooling on his work.

He had pulled out all his remaining loose notes combined with the Journal Three photocopies Stan had made and had took it upon himself to remind himself of everything he'd learned about Bill Cipher. It was weighing on him emotionally, since he, like the rest of them, just wanted to move on and forget about Bill.

"Somebody answer that door!" came Stan's call from the next room.

Mabel sighed with irritation and pushed herself to her feet. "I'll get it..." she called back unenthusiastically. The door swung open effortlessly on its rusting hinges for the first time that day.

"Hey Mabel!" The vibrant blonde had a cheerful smile on her face, her ice-blue eyes twinkling in the cloudlight. "Are you ready to..." Pacifica's voice trailed off when she saw the untidy, depressed state Mabel was in. "Are you okay?"

For once, Mabel had no idea how to answer a question. Her whole being started to shake. How could she answer a question like that? Simple three words.

Pacifica herself looked still as dazzling as she always had, a thick layer of make-up plastered onto her face with purple eyeshadow the exact colour of a ripe plum. Her hair was the colour of desert sand which flowed like water behind her, and a rose pink designer outfit was draped over her shoulders. Mabel, though she would never admit it, was always a little jealous at how Pacifica dressed, right from the moment she first saw her. Now though, Pacifica's designer clothes didn't spark up the usual wanting in Mabel's gut as it did in the past.

"I don't know anymore..." was the only answer Mabel was mildly comfortable with. She knew Pacifica was a great friend of Dipper's too, since he had helped her overcome some issue, she didn't really pay attention when Dipper told her all about it- she was already thinking out her next match-making mission, which Dipper put a stop to before it got too far. How would Pacifica react when Mabel told her the truth?

"Do you need anything?" Pacifica asked hesitantly after a short awkward silence. "Is there anything I can get you?" Did Mabel really need anything?

Soup? Glittery Smile Dip? Or maybe something else? Like the comfort of a friend?

"Can you just stay here?" Mabel sighed slowly and gestured the busted-up sofa on the porch.

They sat on the soft, ragged brown sofa, the springs creaking and resisting against the weight of the two girls. It jingled with the sound of stray coins she and Dipper had hidden there from Stan in case of emergency at the start of this holiday. In case of emergency... shame they couldn't help her now.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Pacifica pressed curiously. "It's okay if you don't want to tell," she added hastily.

Mabel's head slowly lolled onto her friend's shoulder, not even bothering to drag her long brown hair off her face. Pacifica, being the girly girl that she was, brushed Mabel's hair tenderly behind her ear and listened helplessly to the fast rate of Mabel's heartbeat.

"Bill's back."

Pacifica stiffened in shock, her muscles tensed up. "What? How?"

Mabel found herself shaking her head. She didn't want to go through telling the horrifying story again. She still felt its acid on her tongue from when she had told her family everything... everything she remembered. Her memories of the event broke off with a sting of pain at the side of her head.

"I don't... I can't... It was awful..." was all she managed to say. Pacifica ran her delicate fingers through Mabel's hair gently, realising that Mabel was in a state of shock. She tried her best to flip things around to a brighter side.

"Hey, we've beaten him before, we can beat him again!" she assured her cheerfully. "Maybe Mr. Ford's plan with the whole wheel thing could work this time. I can gather everyone and we can get to work!"

Usually it was Mabel who was this optimistic, but she shook her head again, pressing herself closer to her friend.

"That won't work," she croaked weakly. "Dipper's gone missing."

"Dipper's what!?"

Pacifica reacted just like Mabel predicted she would react. A small electric shock went through Mabel's right shoulder, but she didn't even flinch. It was probably static shock, nothing to worry about.

Pacifica didn't seem to notice, she was too caught up in trying to comprehend anything Mabel had just said to her. It was no secret that Pacifica was very emotionally attached to both of the Pines twins, and sometimes required both of their attention constantly.

"Mabel does the shack have a bathroom?" she asked, trying hard not to cry because of her foundation and heavy make-up.

Mabel shrugged matter-of-factly. "I live here. We don't take a piss out in the forest."

Her blonde friend managed a dry laugh before following Mabel's directions into the shack.

So Mabel was left alone again. A pain in her shoulder began to grow again, then fall, then grown again. It was exactly where Bill had struck her that day when she set him free. Was this a sign of him getting stronger? As Ford had said, there could be side effects to Bill's influence, whether he was human or not.

She was suddenly aware of everything going on around her, then nothing, as if she was floating in a vast emptiness. Why did she suddenly feel so sleepy? Her eyelids closed under the weight of tiredness. Mabel snapped open her eyes, but it was no longer the porch at the Mystery Shack.

It was just an empty black sky full of stars and a pretty half-moon, atop a hill full of heather and bracken. The wind slapped her in the face, making her whole being shiver. Mabel inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the cold, fresh air. There was the distant sound of a crackling fire, but no light came, only darkness.

Now Mabel was indeed clever enough to know that with fire came light and heat, Dipper had taught her that during a physics class she had snoozed through. But it was still dark and very, very cold.

Where was she...?

Before she could wrap her head around what she was seeing, thunder crashed and a sting of white lightening reached down from the cloudless sky and hit the high hill, causing Mabel to open her eyes again.

So it was just a dream again, just like the one with fire. But, just like the one with fire, it seemed so real. Her lungs were still cold from breathing in the cool night air, and the goosebumps that appeared on her legs and arms were beginning to disappear thanks to the summer day heat.

Now that she remembered, this little dream and that other nightmare had more in common than met the eyes. She was convinced that her first weird nightmare had lightening apart from fire, which caused her to wake up. She may be wrong, as Mabel often was wrong, but right now she couldn't be wrong.

Pacifica was probably still in the bathroom, and would be for the longer period. The rich girl was known to lament for a long time, and Mabel had put a timer on the last time Pacifica locked herself in a cubicle, and a record of a half-hour.

So Mabel stood to her feet and trudged back into the Mystery Shack kitchen, where Ford was still asleep on his own work. Tired was he, like all the other Pines. Poor thing.

If anyone was to know about strange dream anomalies, it was Great Uncle Ford. He'd spent a great portion of his life studying, researching the wonders of the supernatural, so he was the best person to turn to with a problem like this.

"Great Uncle Ford," Mabel whined lowly, poking him gently in the cheek. "Great Uncle Ford, wake up!"

"Ughuhuhwha...?" Ford yawned and raised his head from his papers. Bags were under his eyes and his familiar face looked more exhausted than Mabel had ever seen it.

"Great Uncle Ford, I need your help," Mabel said to him, eyeing the jug of coffee next to the sink. "What do you know about dreams?"

However Ford was unable to answer her past the fact that he was still deeply asleep inside. Thankfully there was a solution. Mabel poured a big mug of the mud-coloured drink and poured it into Ford's half-open mouth. Her great uncle swallowed with great difficulty past the breath he was taking, coughed a few times to ease off. Now he was awake, fully.

"Mabel? Mabel what are you doing?"

Mabel put down the mug of coffee onto the table and looked Ford dead in the eye. "What do you know about dreams Great Uncle Ford?"

Her question seemed to electrify the forgotten spark inside her great uncle, which seemed to light up his droopy grey/brown eyes with a light that definitely wasn't reflected. Like phoenix rising from the ashes, life seemed to seep back into him.

"Oh gosh, where to start?" Ford rambled instantly, rummaging through his notes and looking for something among his rubbish. "There are different things that dreams can bring, oh my. What are you asking about? Unicorn dreams? 80's towns?"

To his surprise Mabel shook her head. "Those dreams that feel like real life," she explained calmly, trying not to go off into unimportant tangents like she usually did. "I've had two now. One with fire, and the other one with a sky full of stars."

Ford nodded his head solemnly, unearthing a notebook from beneath the piles and piles of paper. He flipped it open and took out a pen that was tangled in his grey hair.

"Describe the first one you had," he commanded.

What did she remember from her first dream? All she remembered clearly was fire, the smoke she thought she inhaled disoriented her and made her eyes water, which shouldn't be possible in the dream world. She didn't mention the lightening, since that wasn't a certainty, but Ford looked awfully shocked at what she was describing in great detail.

Mabel always had potential for a great storyteller. For someone so young, so hyperactive, so carefree like her, when Mabel told stories, she spoke like an adult. Maybe it was because she spent so much time with Dipper and grown-ups, or maybe it was just because she was related to Stan, who was also told excellent stories.

Eventually she finished telling him about the second one, the one she'd just had, and no more sound came from her mouth. The shack went so quiet that the only sound was the friction of pen against paper.

Ford nodded, then bit the top of his pen, then nodded again. His eyes stared off into blank space, blinking and seeing, but not registering what he saw. Mabel's words had made an impact on him.

"Well?" Mabel asked after a while of silence. Ford nodded his head again and stood to his feet.

He told her to stay put and not move, then rushed out of the room, leaving Mabel behind more confused than she already was. The distant sound of the vending machine opening rang round the house.

Ford returned after a brief moment, carrying more equipment than a man his age ever could. A monitor, or a rectangular device that looked like it. Wires, many of them reaching out from the devices like tubes of red, blue and green liquorice. There was a shady briefcase that if it were Gruncle Stan's, it would be filled with either money or robbing equipment. If Mabel knew anything about her Gruncle, was that he should be playable in GTA.

"What are... those?" Mabel asked as Ford began to set the stuff up on any free surface he could find, and soon the kitchen was stuffed with so many things you'd have to be a parkour master or a ninja to get through it without breaking something in some way.

"Equipment I haven't used in quite a while," replied Ford, unhelpfully. "I have seen a situation like this before, Mabel. Let me ask you another question; did Bill harm you and Dipper at the same time when you two were close by each other?"

Oh great, another question that required her to think about that awful day. However the pain in her healing shoulder seared as if she had just received it yesterday, reminding her of how Bill's sharp cane had tore through their shoulders as Dipper threw himself into harm's way. Ford only nodded when Mabel told him that. He had that smug look on his face when he was right about something. He continued to ask her questions, which only one stood out to her. If she had any dreams about dying.

She did have those dreams whenever she had come across that mechanical tree in the forest, the one that was the entrance to the terrifying bunker. But Mabel wouldn't be her human self, she would have wings, and beautiful birdsong would escape her beak. The dream would be the same every time. Every time she would perch on one of the cold metal branches, sing the same song, and then hear the gunshot that would cause her to return to the waking world.

But Ford didn't dwell on the questions for too long. The monitor sprung to life after a full five minutes of fiddling with wires. Before Mabel knew it, it was already wired up to a full chemistry set that looked like a drunk four-year-old had set it up. How Stanford managed to work equipment like this was a mystery to Mabel.

"Now I'm gonna need a sample of your blood."

The blood Ford was asking for froze in their veins. Mabel bit her lip and nodded her head reluctantly. It was over quicker than it started, and Mabel was already pressing a small ball of cotton wool to the crook of her elbow while Ford proceeded to analyse it through the over-complicated spherical glass beakers and tubes.

"What's going on?"

Pacifica had decided to come out of the toilet, only to see the absolute mess that ruled the kitchen. Her surprised expression was priceless, but the closer you looked, you could see two streaming tear-tracks embedded into her foundation. Poor thing...

"Great Uncle Ford's checking my blood," Mabel told her, propping herself up to sit among the piles of paper on the round wooden kitchen table. "Maybe I have some powers I haven't unlocked yet. MABEL SUPERPOWERS ACTIVATE!" She threw her good arm into the air into a superhero pose, in which she stayed for a few moments until she realised that maybe she didn't have blunt superhero powers after all.

Pacifica sat next to her and rested her head onto Mabel's shoulder, letting her bright blonde hair droop over her face. They both looked on as Ford worked with the red liquid. He read the readings on the monitor once or twice, then returned to scribble on his notepad. He would mumble under his breath, the word 'curious' coming up more than once.

"Mabel, there's some blood there that does not belong to you," Ford finally announced. "Looks like when Bill harmed both you and Dipper, some of his blood found its way into you, and some of your blood found its way into him."

"That's creepy," Pacifica told them her shiver passing onto Mabel, who looked at her shoulder and then back again.

"IT'S COOL!" Mabel cheered with a mad tic in her eyes. "What does that mean?" she added as she cocked her head to the side.

"I have seen two people exchange blood before," Ford told the girls. "Those people have moved away from Gravity Falls, but I have written about them in my first journal. Those people could dream about the other's location and situation and wellbeing. When one was in danger, the other would be notified of it and vice versa." He tapped his six-fingered fist against the monitor, causing it to flicker then erupt with a brighter light. "This new ability could be useful, but one thing's nagging me."

"Which is?"

"The lightening. It's uncanny, unnatural. It's trying to tell you something, yet I don't know what."

* * *

Ever since Mabel had discovered her blood-connection with her twin, she had been trying to dream about him every night. Where he was, how he was doing... anything that could tell her that he was somewhere close to home, or at least safe. But no realistic dreams came to her. It was as if the dream power couldn't be summoned on purpose, which only added to the unhelpful.

It was disappointing. Finally Mabel could have a link to her brother, but most of the time it didn't even work.

Many nights had passed, dreamless, only causing Mabel's frustration to grow.

However a third dream came to her a week and a bit later, on a starless night which was only lit by the slightly-more-than-half-moon. It came unexpectedly, because inside Mabel had given up on trying to summon her dream power.

But this dream differed so much from the first two. It gave no feeling of hot or cold. It gave no sights of fire or stars. There was no lightening or thunder. And there was no air in her lungs.

However that in itself seemed to be a problem. Her lungs burned and screamed for air to the point where it hurt so much that Mabel tried to cry out in pain along with two streaming tear-tracks, but no noise emerged from her throat.

She lifted her head with great difficulty to try one last time to gasp for even the tiniest molecule of oxygen. No luck, her windpipe was blocked, her eyes blurry.

But the blur in her vision did not prevent her from seeing a pair of cold, shining, evil, yellow, golden eyes staring her in the face. Everything was clear in them. Fury... Hatred... Bloodlust...

Mabel sat up as if electrified, the nightmare fading away into the safe, dark attic. She took many, many upon many gasps to replenish the oxygen that had been torn away from her in the dream realm, never thankful as much as now for the cool night air she could breathe.

However the relief of her lungs didn't even last a nanosecond. It wasn't her that couldn't breathe, but someone else.

"DIPPER!"


	7. Chapter 7: Plague of the Past

Dear Readers: I just wanted to say thank you for encouraging me to continue with this story! The support had been great, and I wanted to thank. But enough sappy stuff. Here's the result of the 'I've-rewritten-this-far-too-many-times' chapter seven! Let me know what you think!

* * *

The amount of times that Dipper and Bill got along for the next few days could be counted on one hand. The more time they were forced to spend together, the more irritable and hateful they became.

For those few days, Bill held the unlikely trio back in their journey. When they could've been travelling, half of the time Dipper and Primrose had to wait while Bill had to take breaks and throw out the sickness via vomiting. He'd learned his lesson, and whenever Primrose brought them dead rabbits, voles, squirrels and the lot like a pet cat, he would ask her to set his share on fire like Dipper had done. Dipper never wanted to admit the fact that Bill was ever so slowly getting the hang of having a physical body. Bill was a fast learner after all, and just like Dipper had said, he was slowly recovering from his awful sickness.

They were travelling among lush green trees again, leaving the aftermath of the wildfire behind them. Its presence still lingered, but soon it would heal and regrow into a stronger forest.

The day soon came to a close, and the group set up another camp for the night. They knew how to work such things now, they wouldn't make the mistakes again that caused the forest to burn. Primrose once again left to find them some food, and once again the former demon and the now-teen were left alone with each other.

No words passed between them. The consequences would be disastrous if they did. Silence was better than more arguing, which by now everyone was tired of.

Though he would never admit it, Dipper was still deathly scared of Bill. His past lingered behind him like a dark shadow, waiting for the correct moment to rip them apart.

For that moment Dipper let his thoughts soar. He had dreamed of being back in the Mystery Shack more than once now, the nostalgic smell of sagging wood tickling its way up his nostrils and reminding him of home.

 _Home._

There was not a time before where Dipper had been as homesick as now. Here, all was lost. Just trees everywhere, offering nothing but emptiness. They tried to comfort him in their strange language, but it ceased to work its feeling of security and became alien and strange. Yes, a part of him still wanted to recognise this forest for some reason, but that part was buried beneath the anxious human exterior of Dipper Pines. In the Gravity Falls forest, he knew every tree, every bush and every creature, so well that he could fly through it in his sleep, where he had the tactical advantage of knowing where everything was. But here, he was disoriented, lost in the wilderness. He felt like a little lost child stumbling blindly and helplessly after his mother. He was sure Bill felt like that too, though he would never admit it. It was surprisingly easy to decipher how Cipher was feeling; all you really had to do was look at his eyes and they would tell you everything, and Dipper was an observant person. He needed to know as much about his enemy if he ever was to face him and defeat him fully. The eyes gave everything away.

A rustle made him look up from the campfire. Sure, Primrose had come back with food, but he had expected something small just as she's brought before. No, this time the dragoness had brought back something that was much bigger than a thrush or a stoat, and something that was still alive. Struggling in her jaws was a stag, brandishing its antlers in a feeble attempt to free itself.

Dipper jumped to his feet, electrified at the sight. Bill made a strange gagging noise as his eyes widened in disgust. The dragon threw the stag at the boys' feet, where it bleated and barked with bared teeth. Before it could get up however, its head was squished into the ground by a wide dragon paw.

"What the heck?" Bill gasped, but Primrose looked up at them innocently with a weird glint in her eyes. She turned her head to look at Dipper, and stared at him blankly. Again, Dipper had no idea how to react. What should he do in a situation like this? All he could do was hyperventilate and stumble back away from the violent sight.

His reaction caused Primrose to deflate with hurt disappointment. Evidently she had expected him to know what this was. She made a desperate crowing sound, begging the boy to recognise the sight, but understood reluctantly that he had no idea what she was trying to tell him. With another sad whine Primrose promptly tore the stag's throat out, putting it out of its misery.

At least they had a big meal afterwards to recover their strength after the long day.

The next morning Dipper woke to the sound of vomiting, the sky was no longer black but a blue-grey of a wolf's fur. His eyelid flickered as he sat up, all sleep vanishing from him in an instant. He took a deep breath, then instantly regretted it as he coughed out the sulphurous smell of bile.

Bill must be having trouble with his food poisoning again, Dipper decided, watching the golden beast struggle behind the cover of plants. He flinched at the hearable pain Bill appeared to be in, and he fixed his hat to give him something to do other than listen helplessly.

He had been poisoned many times, and knew exactly what pain it caused. He knew exactly what it was like to throw up everything you tried to eat, how frail the muscles felt weakened thanks to the awful sickness. He knew his pain.

Dipper's eyes settled on the dead campfire, the cinders long lost their smoke, leaving behind only black charcoal. It could help him...

 _He's your enemy. Let him suffer._

Dipper hesitated.

 _Don't help him. He deserves the pain._

The boy reached out into the fireplace. The burned remains were still warm to the touch. It left a black powder on his fingers from where he touched it.

 _Leave him be. He needs to suffer._

"Hey, there's charcoal here if you want some," Dipper called to him, then watched as Bill stumbled out of the bushes. He hardly looked like a proud dream demon anymore. Sickness had really gotten the better of him. Dipper hesitated again before he held out the piece of charcoal like holding a piece of bread to a wild animal. Bill also hesitated before he took the charcoal and put it into his mouth desperately.

"How long will this last?" Bill croaked out once he'd swallowed. "I don't know how much more I can take."

For the first time ever, Dipper found himself feeling a little bit sorry for his enemy. However he quickly came to his senses and pushed the awkward feeling away from him.

"Trust me, there are a lot of worse things that could've gotten you," Dipper told him emotionlessly.

Without further ado, the unusual trio was on the move. They had been travelling for quite some time now. But as they travelled, the forest got less and less dense. Something began to reveal itself through the gaps in the trees, something that wasn't forest. Dipper looked to Primrose for an explanation, since she was their guide and knew this forest like her own mind, but she looked almost as confused as he was. When he asked her what it was, she shook her head and closed her mouth indignantly and made a babble that sounded suspiciously like 'I don't know' in human english.

The closer they got, the gaps in the trees got bigger, and the strange silhouettes became more clear. It was stones, marble and granite, stacked in houses no bigger than the Mystery Shack.

 _Civilisation!_

The trees ended, and the small village in the clearing showed itself to them. Not a soul moved, probably all still slept in the very early morning. The houses stood alone, isolated in the forest. Three different pairs of eyes- human, dragon and demon- set upon the little band of houses, different eyes, same expression.

Without further ado, the trio made their way down to the small village (They had to persuade Primrose to come with them). The soft grassy ground turned into hard concrete as the houses loomed on from every side.

But it was in Dipper's nature to be observant, and he soon noticed that there was something off with this town. The houses had smashed windows and broken down doors, so the poor buildings looked like they were crying for help. Not just some of them. _All_ of them.

"Is it just me or is this town really shady?" Dipper mumbled under his breath. This haunting village was twice as scary by day than any town by night. He could almost taste the strangeness on his tongue.

Gravity Falls was also a strange place, but it was a different strangeness than here.

His beloved Oregon town was also in the middle of of a forest, a place you could only get to through roads which twisted and turned like snakes around strange cliffs, which were ridiculously easy to get lost in. There was not a place like it. The people that lived there were strange beyond measure, each rememberable irregardless it was their physical appearance or stupid dialogue that caused you to know them in the first place. The creatures in the surrounding forest were also strange too, but for every inch that they were strange, there was always a mile that they were familiar. You could understand them, why they were there, what their stories were. Sometimes those mystical creatures that lurked in the coniferous woods that surrounded the strange town were more human than some of humans in the world. But at least, it was a good strange that rang with hearts.

Now this village, it was a whole different level of strange. Silence hung around like a poisonous gas, so thick that it could choke the living days out of anyone. The quiet pawsteps and slightly louder footsteps bounced about as echoes, as if the sad little band of houses was excited to see someone in who knew how long.

"You humans live in towns like this?" Bill finally broke the eerie silence between them. "And I thought Gravity Falls was bad. This place looks like its been ravaged by me on a good day."

"It's been abandoned," Dipper remarked. "Primrose, how long had this place been like this?"

The only answer Primrose gave him was a comical shrug with her wings to the side. In truth, Dipper actually doubted that Primrose knew this place existed. Even if she did, it was quite evident she hadn't been here in a while.

"Well that's helpful," Bill mentioned helpfully. The charcoal had clearly helped him and eradicated his pain, at least for the time being. "Look, someone must've had a very bad day," he commented, pointing to a flock of spare change that was laying about on the street.

Dipper's eyes however strayed from their track, and set upon a payphone. His heart leapt.

Bending down to pick up as much of the coins off the ground as he could, he rushed over to the vertical box, feeling the chain spark up to life and pull Bill along. The rusty door swung on its hinges and Dipper muttered a quick plea for it to be still working.

He knew the Mystery Shack phone number off by heart. He'd dialled it many times at times of distress, for it was a place of comfort and help, even though it looked to be the exact opposite.

So he dropped a few coins into the slot and punched in the number for the Mystery Shack onto the dial pad in the phonebooth. He pressed the handset to his ear and twirled his finger nervously in the curled cord that kept it attached to the machine. For a while he waited.

 _The person you're trying to reach cannot take your call right now._

Dipper barked in annoyance at the dead voice he was greeted with. Goddamn those idiotic answering machines! He dropped a few more coins and dialled the same number again.

 _The person you're trying to reach cannot take your call right now._

"Goddamn it, pick up!" he snarled the third time the beeping noise escaped the small speaker.

 _The person you're trying to reach-_

"ALRIGHT I GET IT!" He was screaming now, unable to hold back his anger any longer. He had tried. What else could you want? He had tried to call home. He had tried to tell them where he was. If they weren't gonna answer, that was their problem. So Dipper slammed the door of the phonebooth and sat down with his head in his hands.

However it was on Dipper's fault that he forgot he was not alone. An overly familiar tutting sound made him look up.

"Really Pine Tree? I expected more," Bill tutted, shaking his handsome head. "What are you trying to do anyway? Call home?"

"Yeah," Dipper replied heartlessly. "You wouldn't understand."

Bill shrugged his shoulders. "You're right. I don't. But that doesn't mean I'm not aware of stuff like this. I've lived for the entire time this stupid dimension existed, I think I know distress when I see it."

Dipper made a noise like a displeased horse. "Are you gonna mock me about it? I seriously couldn't care less right now. Just leave me alone."

Bill grabbed his shoulder and dragged him to his feet. "Stop lamenting Pine Tree and get your shit together," he told him harshly. "We can't have you slowing us down with your pathetic human emotions."

Dipper tore himself away from Bill's grasp. "Pretty rich coming from you," he spat.

Then, without warning, Bill knocked into him at the force of a runaway shopping trolley, knocking the air out of his lungs. The boy found himself pressed against the plastic glass wall of the payphone, unable to free himself. He didn't even get to inhale again as two hands tightened on his throat, blocking his windpipe.

The second Dipper felt pressure at his throat, he began to panic and struggle against his sworn enemy, but Bill had an iron grip. He didn't have to say any words, Dipper already saw the hatred in his eyes.

"Bill you'll die if you kill me!" Dipper gasped desperately. His fingers curled round Bill's hangs and tried to force them off his neck, but Bill was much stronger than him. The ex-demon tightened his hand tighter, enjoying the sight of his enemy struggling for his life, then loosed again, knowing he couldn't kill Dipper if he wanted to keep his own life.

Suddenly Bill was torn away from Dipper, letting him fall to his knees and gasp for the sweet, sweet air. It took him a few moments to become aware of the familiar growling at his side.

Once again Primrose had come to break up the fight.

But Bill wouldn't go down that easily. He was annoyingly stubborn, and would go great lengths to get what he wanted. In no time at all he was up on his feet again, knees bent at the ready.

"C'mon then!" he challenged. "I'm not scared of you!"

 _What was he doing!?_ The brown-haired boy wanted to stop them, but what little strength he had left him, restricting him to laying on the ground and taking long, deep breaths to allow his lungs to recover. Looks like Bill's hostility once again emerged from his shadow.

At first, Primrose resisted his challenge, but then she crouched low to the ground, dragging her claws across the ground, ready to charge at him. She lowered her crooked horns and showed her side teeth, where fire began to leak through the gaps.

"There we go," the ex-demon hissed in glee, the pupils in his eyes going ridiculously thin. "Let's have some fun, shall we?"

A monstrous grawl tore through the already uneasy atmosphere, and Primrose leapt towards Bill, fire crackling at the base of her open mouth and bared teeth. A wide demonic smirk appeared on Bill's face as the dragoness charged at him with lowered horns.

Bill's hands flew out and grabbed her two crooked horns before they impaled his chest. His feet skidded back across the undergrowth with Primrose's charge, eventually managing to hold his own against the dragon's strength. Bill was stronger than an average human, but this was overwhelming, even when he was supposedly weakened by his food poisoning. With a heave, Bill turned to his side and threw the dragoness round the axis and to the ground. A loud whimper escaped from her, and she froze over, pretending to play dead like an animal who knew that it has lost.

"What the heck are you doing?" Dipper yowled at him, but Bill ignored him. Dipper jumped back, causing the hated chain to spring back to life and hold the threat back.

Bill looked back at him, and for a moment he looked as if he was going to attack him again. But after a few brief moments, Bill backed down.

Dipper didn't actually expect Bill to listen to him, so his shock at Bill's docile response was almost indescribable. The white curse chain dropped, and shimmered away into nothingness. It wasn't like Bill to be so obedient. It was horribly out of character for him, but Dipper held his tongue behind his teeth, not wanting to start more fights. Bill padded to him, unemotional.

"I've got better things to do than fight with a dragon," he hissed in a low voice to Dipper, who silently agreed.

Primrose got up onto her full height and began to scold and hiss at him in annoyance, just like a cat that just had its tail stuck in a door.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got it mum," Bill bleated back sarcastically. She trotted up to him, then proceeded to hit him over the back of the head with the back of her paw- which would be the equivalent of a teacher hitting a student with a book.

Even Primrose grew to distrust Bill.

"You want another go mate?" the frustrated demon threatened, jabbing his finger at Primrose's snakeskin chest, but the dragoness backed off, sat down calmly and began to lick her paw with a forked tongue.

Dipper ignored them. Oh well. It wasn't his problem, and it was situations like this where he began to ask himself why he bothered in the first place.

 _One more try in trying to call home wouldn't hurt..._

So Dipper went inside the phonebooth again, and let the remaining change slip into the machine. This time he hesitated before dialling the Mystery Shack's phone number.

As the beeping noise came out of the speaker, the door flung open to reveal another angry Bill.

"Do we have to travel with that piece of shit?" he exclaimed, pointing at Primrose, who was making a laughing noise deep in her throat.

"Keep it together," Dipper hissed back, beginning to fiddle with the cord again.

The voice that picked up on the other end wasn't the dead answering machine voice that Dipper grew to hate, but a voice that he could recognise instantly through a crowd.

"Hello?"

"Mabel?" he gasped, not believing that he was finally hearing her voice again.

"Dipper? Dipper is that you? Oh em gee it really is you bro bro! Are you okay?"

Mabel still sounded like Mabel, though she sounded like she had been dying inside before her voice lit up with its usual tic of happiness.

"I'm fine," Dipper reassured her, unable to hold back the relief and happiness, which leaked out of him like water out of a tap. "Are you okay? Bill didn't hurt you too bad, did he?"

He ignored the dirty look Bill gave him.

"No, no, I'm okay. But where are you Dipstick? Are you hurt? Are you safe?"

Dipper shook his head, then reminded himself that this was in fact just a phone call. "I'm not hurt, but I'm not too sure about the safe part."

"What could be safer than travelling with Bill Cipher?" Bill Cipher objected. Dipper mouthed for him to shut up.

"Thing is Mabel, I don't have a clue where I am," he told her. "I dunno what happened, but we were warped to some forest and now we're getting back home and we found this abandoned town with this payphone and-"

"We?"

Of course Mabel would want to know about the Bill situation, so Dipper actively avoided Bill's eye.

"Well, long story short Bill's with me," he explained, trying to sound as neutral as possible. "And we're kinda... how to say it... stuck together."

"What? Dipper you're not saying what I think you're saying."

Dipper nodded his head. "Yup, we're bound together by this sort-of curse thing, I can't hurt him and he can't hurt me. Can you ask Great Uncle Ford to see if he can break a white chain curse or something?"

"Got it bro! Lord Mystery Ham is on the case for the cure to the curse! Bill's gonna get it when you guys come back!"

Dipper raised his eyes again to look at his companion, who undoubtably wanted to know what the twins were talking about "He's right here. I can give him the phone if you'd like."

"NO!"

The ex-demon looked a bit confused on why Dipper was laughing, but crossed his arms and gave Dipper another unimpressed look.

A strange noise cut through the air, and once again their attention was shifted back to Primrose. At first Dipper thought she was doing some funny dance accompanied by her usual animal gibberish, but then he realised that the noises she was making were actually whines and whimpers of a hurt beast, similar to the ones she was making when they found her caught in a hunter trap. The strange way she was moving, she was trying to get something out of the back of her neck, a place where animals could not reach. She collapsed on the ground, where she twitched violently and unnaturally.

"Umm, Mabel, I have to go," Dipper awkwardly put it. Ending the conversation was the last thing he wanted right now. He wanted to hear Mabel tell him everything that has been going on back home, and tell her everything in turn. Tell her about the fire, about Primrose and about Bill getting food poisoning, because she would find that funny. But fate sometimes cuts across our plans. "Something's happening with Primrose, and I don't think it's good."

"What? Who's Primrose? What's happen-"

Dipper had hung up the phone and followed Bill as they hastily made their way over to their guide. But they were in for quite a sight.

Thick, dirty yellow foam frothed at the dragon's jaws, and her body was giving massive, sudden spasms as she lay there, helpless on the ground. The boys were reflected in her forest-green eyes- a plea for help.

"Holy- What's wrong Primrose?" Dipper tried to ask her, the sight of the chokingly revolting froth sending a nasty trickle of fear down his spine.

Primrose made an attempt of communication, but all that came out was an alien sound of complete and utter pain. She managed a raspy inhale to try again, but the terrible sound came again, only louder.

"What's happening to her?" Bill asked Dipper, slightly hysterically.

"Dude, I don't know!" Dipper replied with the same rising worry as Bill. He put his palm onto her diamond forehead, and the abnormal heat for a cold reptile he felt only deepened the pit of worry. "Try to stay awake Primrose," he told her swiftly, but the amber-scaled beast had already gone limp, the red spreading to the white of her eyes like the plague. Then her eyes lolled back into her head, the three-layered dragon eyelids closed over them. Her huge head dropped to the ground, and all life seemed to seep out of her so she lay there motionless.

Dipper's head began to swim, and he only vaguely registered the call of 'Pine Tree' in Bill's voice. The golden he-demon was pointing to a tranquilliser dart lodged into the back of Primrose's neck. Dipper made a reach to pull it out, but found he couldn't. Something had gripped him from behind, pressing a white cloth over his mouth and nose. It had a weird smell, one that reminded him of summerween sweets, but caused his head to spin. Then his mind leapt, and panic erupted from him.

 _Chloroform!_


	8. Chapter 8: Demon and Constellation

I can't see anything. It's just total darkness

Where am I? Am I dead? Where's Dipper? Where's Primrose? Where's Bill?

Darkness...Abyss...Blindness...Night...Death...Blackness...Nothingness

Where is Dipper Pines? Where is Primrose? Where is Bill Cipher?

I can't move. Why can't I move?

Am I dead? I can't be dead. Mabel is waiting for me. I need to get back to Mabel!

I am drowning in this roaring silence. I can't see. I can't hear. I can't breathe.

 _The screeching of car wheels_

 _Run onto that road_

 _Catch the pheasant_

Pine Tree The Demon Crescent Moon

 **I'm a human now. I'll never get my powers back. I'm stuck in this meatsack, I'm stuck as a real mortal human. I can't believe this. This food poisoning is awful.**

 **My body...My head...It hurts...It all hurts so much**

 **I couldn't help him**

 **I couldn't help her**

 **I couldn't help myself**

 _I lost him. I can never get him back. He's gone. He's dead._

 _Big Dipper That Constellation You bare that mark upon your forehead_

 _You bare his mark upon your forehead_

Why did this happen? Who attacked us? What happened? Where am I? Where are they?

Chloroform. Tranquilliser dart

Yellow foam frothing at her jaws

White cloth covering their mouths and noses

 **I'm a disappointment**

 **I've failed them**

 **I'm powerless**

 **Why do I care about them?**

 **Why do I care about him?**

Just one breath

Just one...

Just...

* * *

Dipper couldn't tell if he was awake or still sleeping. He tried to open his eyes, but they were already open, and yet he still saw pitch blackness. He couldn't see his own nose. But whenever he tried to open his eyes, not only did he see nothing, but electric pain shot through his eyes which forced him to close them. He couldn't see.

His breaths came in unsteady and unrhythmic gasps and whimpers, almost like sobs. The chemicals still lingered in his lungs, which caused him to cough in a feeble attempt to get the chloroform out of his breath. Vomit creeped up his throat, but Dipper reacted quickly and swallowed down the burning bile which left a horrible taste in his mouth. And that alone was enough to loll Dipper back into unconsciousness.

* * *

Still darkness. Still Dipper could not see anything. How many times had he woken up and gone back to sleep?

Where was he?

Dipper wiggled his toes, and then his fingers. At least he hadn't lost feeling in his body.

Then came the feeling of dampness. His clothes were damp and cold. The air he was breathing was dense with moisture, and smelled strongly of fungus and mould. What is this place?

His hand felt around at the ground he was laying on. It was cold and rough, and Dipper recognised it instantly as stone.

Stone? Didn't most hospitals have smooth surfaces? So he wasn't in a hospital. He moved his right hand, and his left hand moved with it. He started struggling, and discovered that his wrists have been bound, the rough binds rubbing against his delicate skin. Ropes? Handcuffs? Dipper struggled again. Nope, definitely rope. And a tight rope at that.

He tried to separate his legs, but once again he couldn't. There were binds at his ankles too.

Trying to set himself free, Dipper tumbled to the side but only achieved to send another shockwave of pain shattering though his own body. He let out a loud gasp of pain, and felt fabric rub against his skin. At least he was fully clothed.

He took a deep breath, and regretted the disgusting tasting air that filled his chemical-ridden lungs. At that moment he became aware of the thirst that lingered in his dry mouth. He needed water. Could a human survive on saliva alone? Dipper didn't know. Move tongue, get saliva, swallow.

With the little strength Dipper found in his muscles, he used to try and push himself up to a sitting position. It took a lot of trail and error, but Dipper managed to do it eventually.

His priority: get the binds off. Next priority: find Bill and find Primrose. If he was captured, so were they. Any fool could figure that out. He only hoped that they were okay. He knew that Bill was alive, otherwise he himself would be dead. But what about their dragon mother? Last time he saw her she had passed out from a violent, potentially lethal tranquilliser dart.

So Dipper lifted his heavy wrists to his mouth and tried to undo the tight bonds with his teeth. It was a difficult task, since it was pitch black and sight was useless, not to mention whoever had tied these ropes had done it really well. Looks like undoing these bonds was useless. The dryness returned to his mouth. Move tongue, get saliva, swallow.

There was a rustle in the darkness. Dipper's head snapped towards the sound like a dog's towards a squirrel, his useless eyes trying to pierce through the pitch black. In an instant he left his binds alone and listened. His heart gave a jolt and he automatically shifted to sit on his knees incase he needed to leap back at any moment. Someone, or something, was in here with him.

The rustle came again, but this time Dipper could tell how close the something was. It was much too close, too close for comfort. It was far too close... so close that Dipper could feel the warmth of a smooth surface that rubbed against his bare knees. A terrified gasp escaped from him, and the rustling stopped.

"Pine Tree? Is that you?"

"Bill!" When he said his name, it didn't come with the usual anger, dismay or fear that usually came with it, but a gasp of relieved happiness that no-one before him gave while speaking the dream demon's name.

It didn't matter that it was Bill. It didn't matter what had happened between them before. It didn't matter about the past. What mattered, was that Bill was here with him against the poisonous darkness.

He could hear Bill pushing himself up to sit, still close to him and hearably struggling. Looks like Bill also had ropes tied round his wrists and ankles. But eventually he managed it and also sighed a long sigh of relief.

What happened next wasn't what Dipper had expected. A warm surface pressed itself against his right cheek, presumably the soft skin of another cheek, and rubbed against it tenderly. Dipper froze, but returned the gesture, somehow feeling safer after inhaling the now-apparent, suddenly soothing scent of his companion.

"I'm not gonna lie, this is the first time I'm genuinely happy to see you," Bill stuttered, the words barely making it past his tight throat and pride.

"Same here," Dipper replied, pressing his forehead into Bill's shoulder in turn, glad to have someone for comfort. "I thought I was dead. I thought we were all dead."

"Stop lamenting, we're not dead," Bill reassured him in his own, harsh and brisk way. He too drank in Dipper's presence hungrily, his heart beating rapidly against Dipper's chest. "We need to get out of these ropes, that's what." He broke apart the awkward hug, and Dipper began to hear noises of teeth against rope. "Shit! These are tight! Who did this to us anyway? Is Crescent Moon here?"

"I don't think so... but then again I can't see."

Bill tried to chew through the rope, but spat out a few stay hairs, or at least that's what it sounded like.

Another noise joined the two boys, but this time it didn't come from any of them. The unlocking of a door.

"Play dead!" Dipper whispered as loudly as he could.

It wasn't hard for Dipper to play dead, because, quite frankly, he very nearly _was_ dead.

A door opened from somewhere, and light seeped into the pitch black. Dipper couldn't resist. He opened his right eye a tiny fraction, and his blood turned to ice.

The room he and Bill were being kept in was smaller than the Mystery Shack's tiny kitchen. Rough stone covered the floor, ceiling and walls all around. Yet there was no Primrose. Bill was laying next to him, his golden eyes also opened a tiny fraction, but he in turn looked almost dead too. In the distance, the metal door was opened, and two massive figures stood there.

"I thought I heard talking," one of them said. He was the closer of the two, one that took sharp steps towards them. He was now standing above them, and Dipper closed his eye in fear of the man catching him awake. "Do you think they're faking?"

 _No, no we're not. Leave us alone._

"Dude chill, I know you can't wait for them to wake," said the other. "But you overdosed on the chloroform you and that guy I can't remember the name of used on those two boys. They're like what, twelve and sixteen? About that age I would say. The amount of chemicals that you used could knock out a grown man."

The first one grunted and knelt down beside them. "When will they wake up? I'm getting restless. The others are still satisfied with our prey we caught from that train station. But these guys are new. They had a dragon pet for fuck's sake."

Dipper flinched as he felt a cold hand on his bare leg, and Dipper had to bite his inner lip to avoid from yowling out for help. That would be the biggest mistake ever.

"Dude, you won't get them to squeal for you in that state," the other told him. "They're knocked out cold, and what fun is in fucking unconscious children? Wait a few more hours and then you'll have twice the fun."

The brute took his hand away from Dipper's leg and stood back up to his feet. "Fine, but remember, I take the first shot. I didn't get a turn with our last little prey."

The two men existed the room and the door closed, once again plunging the room into total darkness. But this time the darkness was welcomed.

Dipper's eyes snapped opened to the blackness, and he let out the horrified noise he had been keeping back. "We've got to get out of here. Fast."

"I'm actually feeling something here," Bill whispered back. "I want to get out of here, I don't know what it is, and I don't like it." There was a stammer in his usually booming voice.

"That's called fear," Dipper explained quickly, though it didn't help his situation. Things were _really_ bad if the former god of absolute chaos was scared. He could feel the awful sense of fear spreading through his own body. Dipper tried to remind himself to keep calm, but no matter what he did, no matter what he told himself, he couldn't stop the plague of panic rising within him.

In that instant Dipper dropped his pride and pressed himself against Bill's chest, breaking down into hysterical sobbing.

"What are you doing Pine Tree? Why is there liquid coming out of your eyes and why are you making those strange noises?" Bill asked, frozen as ice.

It took Dipper a few moments to manage to mutter a few words that were just able to be deciphered. "I don't know what worse," he sobbed, letting his tears soak into Bill's clothes. "Dying here of starvation or getting tortured, raped and murdered."

Only then did Bill realise that Dipper had fallen prey to human emotion. At first he didn't know how to react, since the chaos demon had never comforted someone before in his life, but then he once again rubbed his cheek against Dipper's. "Calm down," said he, shocked himself at how different his voice sounded when he wasn't making threats or manipulating. "We're gonna get out of here. We're gonna escape, find Crescent Moon and get back to Gravity Falls, I promise you."

For a few more moments Dipper cried, but then he came to his senses and pushed himself away from his 'enemy'. "Okay," he steadied his voice and brushed his tears away with his bound wrists. "We first need to get these binds off." Both boys pushed themselves up to sit.

"I have an idea," Bill announced. What he said next didn't sound like human english, but like chanting in some inhuman language Dipper had never heard before. At his words, a bright light burst into life. Dipper gasped softly and closed his eyes tightly shut against the painful light; he had spent god knows how long in total darkness. And then bit by bit, he opened them gradually to get used to the white light.

The chain had sprung to life. It wasn't tense like when it usually became visible, but laying around on the ground, idle, yet still tied around his own neck and Bill's like a lead. They were still connected.

"How-"

"We have control over our curse," Bill told him with a shrug, as if Dipper had just merely forgotten. "We just can't break its limits." Another blinding light flashed, and Bill's cane had appeared between his bound hands.

"You're a genius," Dipper breathed before he could stop himself. Bill merely shrugged as he began to use his sharp cane to cut through the ropes. It took him a while, but eventually, Bill's hands were free.

"Let's get you out of there now," Bill whispered, eyes darting to the metal door for a moment, weary of those men coming back. Another moment passed, and now Dipper's hands were free as well.

The boys wasted no time. Their hands, now free, began working away at the ropes at their ankles. Finally their legs were free.

Now what?

Now it was Dipper who had an idea. "Do you have anything sharp?" he asked Bill. The older boy felt around in his pockets, and pulled out a thin metal rod.

"I picked this up at that shady town to threaten Crescent Moon with it, you want it?"

Dipper nodded his head and took the metal rod. "This is perfect! I can pick the lock now." Bill gave him a glare as if to ask _how do you know how to do that?_ Dipper shrugged. "Mabel and I helped Gruncle Stan break into stores and buildings last summer," he explained quickly. "We're small and slender and can fit into places he can't, so we needed to learn how to pick locks, hack safes, climb buildings and avoid alarms. I guess I owe him thanks for teaching me how to become a master criminal."

"Your family is crazy," Bill commented.

"Oh I know."

So Dipper kelt beside the keyhole and began to fiddle with it. He held up the chain to give him extra light. The lock clicked. The door was open.

"Okay," Bill muttered under his breath, brandishing his cane like a sword. "Got a weapon?"

Dipper shrugged then held up the thin metal rod. "I guess I can use this as a dagger or something," he proposed. In reality, he had no practise with using actual weapons, the closest he'd ever gotten was using a burning hot fireplace pike in a sword fight against a wax Sherlock Holmes. "You ready to kick some ass?"

"I was ready for trillions of years," Bill replied. With a swift move of his leg, Bill lashed out and kicked down the metal door with ease. It clattered on the ground, and caused the orange outside light to spill into the darkened room and mix with the bright white light of the cursed chain. The boys leaped out like wild animals being reintroduced into a new habitat, combat-ready and weapons bared.

However nobody was there. The men were gone.

Dipper and Bill lowered their weapons cautiously, and looked at the surroundings. A dark corridor, illuminated by firelight and torches. There was more light at one end of the corridor, daylight? Maybe? Dipper was about to go forward when he felt warm breath hit his neck, then whatever had exhaled being violently dragged away from him. Dipper spun round, only to see a strange man struggling against Bill, who had gripped him round the head and forced his jaws tightly shut. Despite being weakened and weathered at by his sickness, Bill was still stronger than the average human, and he was winning.

"Pinch his nose Pine Tree," he commanded. Dipper didn't ask questions, just did as he was told. Instantly the man began to struggle harder, unable to take in air. "Fix your hat, it looks like Crescent Moon had chewed it up."

Dipper fixed his hat with his free hand, and felt the man go limp. He had passed out from the lack of air. "Is that enough?" he hazard asking. Bill shrugged.

"I dunno, you're the meatsack expert here," was his reply, but he let him drop to the ground with a thud.

Dipper lead the way down the corridor, eyes around his head for any more thugs, Bill close to his heels, also battle-ready. They stepped lightly, careful not to cause their footsteps to echo round the walls. They came out of the corridor, and the whole place came to view.

They were in some remixed version of a broken line of corridors and caves, the walls an amalgamate of earth, rocks and smooth, man-cut stone. The electrical lights overhead were disused and dusty, so the tunnels were illuminated by torches and firelight. The corners were sharp, not letting to see what was past. Worst of all, there was no exit and there was no sign of the dragon.

"I'm getting bad vibes from this," Dipper whispered as he pocketed the thin metal rod, remembering his experiences with the Society's temple and Bill's lair. Those twisting corridors, he was sure he was going to develop of phobia of them someday if things carried on this way. "We need to find Primrose and get the heck out of here."

"Sounds like a plan, let's go."

They began to walk down the corridor, their hearts pounding in adrenalin. They jumped at every small sound, for fear made every sound louder. While previously the chain kept the two together by force, now they didn't leave each other's side, which caused the white chain to shimmer away into nothingness. They hid behind corners when they heard someone coming, and eluded the sight of the brutes as much as they could.

Who were they? Dipper still did not know. But judging by the conversation he and Bill had overheard, would it be a wild guess to assume that this was a pack of sexual predators? That was a terrifying realisation.

At one point they stumbled across a pile of human bones, which gave them both a heart attack and made them even more eager to leave this place. Human organs are quite expensive on the black market, after all. Dipper even picked up a bone, and gazed at it sadly. A person had fallen prey to these thugs, and their story didn't have a happy ending. He didn't even know this person, but a pang of sorrow hit him, for this person, whoever they were. And for the many others that have suffered and died this way.

"Hey check this out Pine Tree!" Bill called out to him. "I think I've found a mirror of Jaddrycryn!"

Dipper turned back to him in confusion and put the bone down. "A mirror of what?"

"Jaddrycryn," Bill repeated neutrally. "I wondered where I would find one of those again."

Instantly Dipper's mystery-hunting instinct kicked in, and he trotted up to Bill to see what he was making such a big fuss about.

The mirror was leaned against the uneven wall, minding its own business. At first Bill and Dipper didn't notice it over the shock bone pile, but now it looked as interesting, if not more. Its rim was made of gold, encrusted with strange, colourless jewels. Bill was looking at the mirror, with something in his eyes, something indescribable... something that Dipper had seen before, though couldn't put his finger where.

"What is it?" Dipper asked and looked at the reflection. He had expected to see the reflection of the slightly taller, golden-haired, golden-eyed demon boy he had become a custom to seeing and tolerating, but none of that had shown up in the mirror. Instead, was the reflection of a familiar, floating, yellow triangle, still sporting his black top hat, bow-tie and cane. His single eye looked on in the same longing as his human counterpart did, mirroring his every move.

Seeing Bill once again in demon form sent a nasty chill of horrified nostalgia through Dipper. Even if it was just a mere reflection, it didn't stop the waves and waves of memories he had with this creature.

Battling him in Stan's mindscape... Making a deal thus getting possessed... Seeing him plastered all over the second level of the basement... Getting chased by him through the many twisting triangular corridors of his pyramid...

The memories with this triangular fellow were not good, at all.

Bill noticed Dipper's uneasy expression, and couldn't stop the split-second flash of hurt through his eyes. So instead he tried to loosen the atmosphere.

"I remember one of these being in Gravity Falls," he remarked, looking back at himself fondly. "That Northwest had smashed it to pieces. A fine Jaddrycryn mirror it was. This one is a little on the rusty side, but it still works as it should."

"What is it?" Dipper asked, finally pulling his eyes away from the creature that haunted so many of his dreams to look at his comrade.

Bill too looked back at him. "Strange how Sixer missed writing about these," he said with a shrug. "They show what you looked like in your past life, if you had one. I guess the memory gun incident would count as my death after all."

His eyes darted to his reflection again, and the same tic returned to his irises. Now Dipper recognised the strange gaze.

It was the unbearable glint of helpless longing, the same glint he had seen in Primrose's emerald eyes when she looked at him. Bill too had been longing, though like with Primrose, it was hopeless.

"Do you... miss your other form?" Dipper hazard asking, though his voice quivered in awkwardness, something that Bill chuckled at before replying.

"Of course I do," he answered. "I miss not being able to feel pain, I miss being able to know what everyone is thinking. You don't know how wonderful it feels to dance your way into people's dreams, or do anything your insane mind comes up with." He looked at his hands. "I miss having my imagination as my only limitation. I miss myself in some way."

There was an impressive silence as he paused speaking. But it was only for a moment, for he carried on. "But I guess being a useless meatsack isn't too bad," he admitted. "I like living on edge and running for my life. I guess I can get used to being a mortal."

It looked like Bill had matured a lot, and lost at least the bad part of his insanity. If Dipper looked now, he wouldn't believe that the god of chaos and this boy were one and the same. But looked like his other flaws were still present, such as his vanity, but that Dipper was somehow willing to accept.

Dipper nodded his head in understanding, his eyes fluttering between Bill's humanity and the floating triangle in the mirror. "Did I have a past life?" Dipper asked curiously. Bill shrugged his shoulders and made room for him.

So Dipper stood in front of the mirror, and his heart dropped to the base of his feet.

In the mirror, was not the reflection of an awkward brown-haired, brown-eyed technically-teenage boy going through massive puberty. But instead, looking back at him, was a dragon.

It stared back at him in shock, its strange green eyes widening. The scales it bore were the colour of ocean, bluer than Dipper had ever seen. Those crooked horns and the overall bulky, reptilian body shape was familiar somehow... but what really was the surprise was the mark the dragon bore on its forehead.

The Big Dipper constellation...

Both the boy and the demon stared at the dragon in shock, speechless, and it stared back at them, not uttering a word. The boy lifted his right hand, and the dragon lifted its left paw, perfectly synchronised.

"Who-" Dipper began to ask, but no more words escaped his mouth once he realised that the dragon had also moved its mouth.

However Bill knew what Dipper wanted to ask. "I don't know," he said seriously. He turned to look Dipper in the face. "But do you remember how Crescent Moon reacted to your birthmark?"

The faint memory rose to the front of Dipper's mind, and he remembered the painful way she looked at him. Back then, he had thought Primrose had just had an experience with that constellation. Now though, it all made sense.

Primrose knew this dragon. Primrose knew who Dipper used to be.

"Now we've got to find her to find out who you were in your past life," Bill joked, snickering in his usual laugh. "That is if she hadn't been beaten to death by these pathetic excuses for living beings," he finished in a sombre note. He turned away to walk further into the unknown corridors. "C'mon then Pine Tree, we've got an oversized snake to save."

Dipper was about to follow his companion eagerly, when a sharp hand grabbed his arm, the rough skin leaving little white scratches on the boy's forearm. Instantly Dipper fought for freedom, forced to face the unfamiliar man as he held him with an iron grip, something indescribably scary glimmering in his eyes.

"Let go of me!" the young boy shrieked in panic, but the man pulled violently, so Dipper stumbled towards him against his will, so close to the man's face now that he could taste his awful stinking dog's breath on his tongue.

"The little lamb has come to me," cooed the man with a creepy smile, sending a jolt of panic through the boy as he struggled against him harder. That voice! That voice that said those horrible things... it belonged to him! "The others know I've claimed you as my own, so don't you worry about them."

The man got closer, but as he did so, a sudden wave of force tore him away from Dipper, who fell down on his behind and looked up with fearful eyes.

"You nasty bastard!" Bill yelled, his hands clutching the man's shirt collar so tightly his knuckles turned white. The man was slightly lifted off the ground, trying to pry Bill's hands away from himself. From where he was curled, Dipper could see that once again, Bill's eyes have shifted from the calm gold to the raging red, once again beginning to leak the foreign scarlet gas. Dipper had seen Bill do this in his human state once before, and that was when he stupidly pushed him over the edge of his patience. But now? Why was he angry now? Shouldn't he be glad of what could've happened to Dipper?

"No-one... and I mean no-one-" his voice began to get distorted, so it sounded like a broken record. "-is to lay so much as a finger on my companion."

 _My companion...?_

The words rang round Dipper's head. If he hadn't seen Bill's mouth move, he wouldn't've believed that the former devil had said that sentence. He was waiting for Bill to back down and let the man continue with his filthy work, but the ex-demon stood stubbornly. He wasn't kidding.

But the brute stopped struggling, and a wide smile spread on his face, somehow even creepier than whenever Bill had done it. Before Bill could comprehend what the man was doing, his hand took out something from his pocket. A switchblade. There was a flash of movement, where scarlet liquid shot away from Bill's face and a cry of agony emerged from him. He let go of the man and fell back, his hands trying to stop the blood from escaping. Once again, the look of true terror was back in his gaze, but he would not find the mercy that he found in the boy he had once terrorised.

The man stepped up to him, the shadows dancing across his face. This was a sight that nobody in their right mind would ever want to see before their own eyes.

Dipper had no idea what he was doing. He had grabbed the tiny metal rod from his pocket and held it as if it were a dagger. He stepped between the man and Bill, and tried to make himself a tiny bit more dangerous.

"If you want to get at him you'll have to go through me!" he barked, then he came to his senses. Was he really protecting Bill Cipher?

 _Yes... Yes he was._

"With pleasure," the man growled, but like his opponent before him, he underestimated how fast the thirteen year old was.

Dipper was always fast, and being small and agile turned out to be his advantage. Using brute force like Bill Cipher or Gideon Gleeful was not his resume, but he was able to win fights by cunning and speed.

It was difficult to say what exactly happened, for even Dipper remembered it as a blur, but in those few seconds, the man was on the ground, bleeding badly from three stab wounds in his stomach.

Even Dipper himself was surprised as his own brutality, but his moment of hesitation lasted only mere moments. Without stalling he pulled Bill to his feet and both of them fled down the corridor, away from the predator that had hunted them.

When they were at a far away distance from the place where the man had attacked them, they stopped to catch their breath. A few moments of panting continued to replenish the oxygen in their lungs.

The first to break the silence was Dipper. "You're bleeding Bill," he stated.

"Yeah no shit honey!" Bill growled at him, turning his head away so the left side on his face wasn't as visible. He pressed his hands closer to his face, but failed at trying to prevent the dark red liquid from dripping down his face and onto the floor. "Don't look at me and maybe I'll get over it."

Dipper gave him the most unimpressed look he could muster.

"Dumbass, you'll get the wound infected if we don't do something about it," he explained calmly. "And judging by the food poisoning incident, you don't want to fall prey to human weakness again, do you?"

Bill clearly wanted to argue, but once again Dipper had a point. So Bill turned his head towards him and took his hands away from his face.

Dipper's hands darted to his mouth to muffle the horrified gasp.

The wound was short, running from his temple to the bridge of his nose, but it was deep, leaking blood. But it also ran across Bill's eye, ridding him of the eyesight in that eye, forcing him to keep it shut. Once again he was one-eyed.

"And just when I was beginning to get used to having two eyes," Bill complained, waving his red-stained hands in a rant. "Will my eye ever see again?"

Dipper sucked air through his teeth. "I don't think so," he told him truthfully. "You'll be half-blind from now on. We need stop the blood loss."

Bill made a strange noise as his tongue tried to lick at the blood that was dripping down his face. "My vessels have had worse wounds that have healed over in the past, you should know that," he said darkly. "But perhaps you're right, I don't want this shit infected."

For an answer Dipper tore a piece of his red shirt off, and reached out to tie the scrap of scarlet fabric round Bill's head. It covered the wound and held the remaining blood back from the surface.

"There we go," Dipper announced proudly as he finished tying the patch. "You look like a pirate."

Bill rolled his eye and pushed the palm of his hand to the wounded eye, pressing the fabric to the open wound. "Thanks, I guess," he uttered.

It was then that a string of strange noises began to echo round the corridors. Noises, which the two had grown familiar to. Those deep-pitched growls, the cat-like hisses, the alien roars... those were the sounds that Primrose had continuously made throughout their journey.

"You hear that right?" Dipper made sure. "I think I'm hallucinating."

"Nope, I hear that too," Bill confirmed with a firm nod. "Let's get her and get the fuck outta here."

"You do realise that those thugs know about us escaping, right?" Dipper asked him as they once again made their way cautiously down the corridors. "They're gonna kill us."

"Haters gonna hate dearie, fuck 'em," was all Bill answered with.

So the two boys continued their way down the corridor, steadily making their way towards the sounds of their guide. They travelled stride by stride, close by each other's sides, the boy protecting the demon, the demon protecting the boy.


	9. Chapter 9: Foe then Friend

This chapter is dedicated to Thedyingjokepastaway. Thanks man for being there for me. Also I would like to thank LumpyApple, Subtle Shenanigans, Nina EverBlade, TheFalls and all of you who are reading this right now. Thank you all so, so, so, so much for all the support you've given this abomination of work. You have no idea how much it means to me. Now, enough about sappy stuff, let's get onto the story!

* * *

The corridors had gone strangely quiet, too quiet. Only a pair of footsteps bounced about the walls, and even the silent breathing could be heard. It was uncomfortable at best, but at least silence guaranteed that nobody was near. Bill reassured Dipper that demon hearing was so acute that they could hear a heartbeat over a mountain, but the boy had explained that human hearing isn't that good. Bill seemed legitimately disappointed at that fact.

Occasionally, a dragon voice would echo round the corridor like a ghost's call, its owner unknowingly guiding her two travelling companions closer to where she was kept.

 _Right, then left, then straight on._

They had learned their lesson on lowering their weapons, so the sharp cane and the tiny metal rod were held tightly and raised shall anyone attack. But soon the two boys came across a room similar to the one housing the mirror of Jaddrycryn.

More bones. More people died this way. Dipper's stomach twisted into a knot, threatening to puke pure bile, but it just ended in a loud rumble, wailing for food that he'd been deprived of. How many people have these monsters abused and killed?

But again, Bill wasn't interested in the hills of human bones, but instead looked behind the bigger picture and found something Dipper would never find in his right mind.

"What is it?" the brown-eyed boy asked, taring his sorrowful eyes away from the bonehill. His golden-eyed companion held a necklace, a strange crystal attached to it.

"We're finding stuff here I haven't seen a while," said the ex-demon. "This is a demonite crystal. It-"

"It makes things bigger and smaller when light is shined through it!" Dipper finished for him, his nerdness gene acting up when he heard of something familiar to him. "I once created a shrink-grow ray with one of those."

Bill gave him an impressed glare. "Well, well, well, you know more about the supernatural that I thought you would. I'm impressed Pine Tree." With that he pocketed the necklace and once again they were on the move.

"Do you think we'll ever get out of here?" Dipper whispered to Bill a few hundred minutes later, looking up uncertainly at his companion. "This place is like a maze with no exit."

But before Bill could answer, he stood straight and too attention, just like a bloodhound, clasping his hand over Dipper's mouth to shut him up. The next second he pulled them both into a dark crook in the wall, breathing quietly through his nose.

A few moments passed, nothing happened. A little longer, still nothing. What was Bill scared of?

Just when Dipper was about to tare Bill's hand away from his face a stampede of men ran past them through the corridor, just like a herd of bison. Past their thundering footsteps Dipper managed to make out cries of outrage about two slaves escaping and being on the loose. They knew about him and Bill, and the mere realisation of it made Dipper shudder and press himself against Bill's warm body for comfort.

Then, just as quickly as it came, the stampede ended and all once again was quiet. For a moment longer Bill was tense, still, listening, and then Dipper felt his body relax.

"Okay, I think we're good to go," he whispered, peaking out of the crook to look both ways into the corridor.

"How did you know they were coming?" Dipper asked him, finally taking Bill's hand away from his mouth.

Bill looked back at him and gave him a smile. "I might be human on the outside, Pine Tree, but on the inside I'm still the insane ol' demon. I know these sort of things. I know lots of things! _Lots of things..._ " He shifted his voice so it was deeper pitched and slower, but it only made Dipper laugh, for he strangely found it funny and comforting.

"C'mon then!" he whispered as loud as he could. "Let's g-"

He was interrupted by another dragon noise. They were getting more and more desperate by the moment, and louder and louder every time the voice's owner whimpered, whined, wailed and called for help. Her voice gave the boys a kick and they were once again travelling silently down the intertwining corridors.

More quiet moments passed, and honestly Dipper had lost track of time. Was this day or night? He had no idea, for the only light was the torches against the walls.

The dingy hallway opened up into a balcony, an indoor balcony overlooking a lower level. The broken pillars still somehow held up the ceiling, the banister worn and weathered at by time. Rebar hung hopelessly from the ceiling. Those noises, they were coming from the lower level.

No words were needed, Bill and Dipper gently padded up to the banister, close to one of the broken pillars for protection. Slowly, every slowly they looked over to see.

And instantly they wished they didn't.

There is always that sense of disgust and horror when you see someone familiar treated in such a low way, shown absolutely no respect. And that feeling came like instinct, not only to Dipper, but strangely to Bill as well.

Their guide had big, metal chains binding her to the stone walls at each side. The huge metal clasps around her ankles and neck were either too small that they visibly cut off the blood supply or too big, but not big enough to be slipped off. A rope muzzle was tied around her snout, keeping it tightly shut so she couldn't burn or bite. The dragoness the chains were binding was ferociously battling against them, pulling and tugging at them with all her might. And the dragoness was losing.

There was one man standing guard at her, presumably the others have gone to look for the escapees. And that man was hardly keeping himself back at the animal's annoying cries for help and rattling of the chains. Eventually he snapped.

"Shut up!" he snarled at Primrose, who in turn started to struggle harder against her binds. So the man raised his hand, and with it a long whip. With a swift flick he sent it crashing down at her like a venomous snake. The loud crack of the whip was followed by a dog-like whimper of pain.

It was then she showed her weakness. Where the whip had hit her between the wings, it had left a raw-red mark on her dimming, now-dull orange-amber scales. As she stumbled back, now passive and docile like the animal that knew it had lost, she revealed the horrible condition her hind leg was in, so bad that she couldn't put any weight on it.

"You're lucky those two escaped, or you would've been the next prey!" the man threatened, returning to his post without another word.

If Dipper was still a dragon, he would've breathed fire. How _dare_ they treat her like this?

He then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Have you got a plan brainiac?" Bill whispered to him, his golden eyes not leaving the scene below them. "Cuz I don't have any ideas."

With great difficulty Dipper pushed the rage away and thought. A moment later his expression brightened a little. Without his hesitation he told Bill his plan.

With no hesitation Bill nodded his head and picked up a rock that was laying around the ground, like many others were. With a reassuring glare at his smaller compadre, he got a good grip on the rock and then threw it as hard as he could to the other side of the lower level. Before it hit the ground, both boys hid behind the broken pillar and kept close to the ground. The next moment a loud clatter echoed round the corridors, the sound of a stone hitting the ground followed by the multiple clatters of the roll afterwards.

"Hey!" the man yelled, detecting where the noise came from at once. "The escapees!"

The boys listened silently to the quietening footsteps of the man, along with the diminuendo of the man's cries which in turn faded away into the maze of corridors.

Course clear.

The lower level was not that far off, so it was perfectly safe to just leap off the balcony. At least to Bill it was, who did not say a word before he flung himself over the banister and landed so lightly and soundlessly on the ground he could've been a cat. The golden boy looked back at his brown-haired companion, wordlessly egging him on to jump down.

Dipper looked unsurely at him, before clambering over the banister clumsily before letting himself fall down to the lower level. He was no way as graceful or as light-footed as Cipher was, and his landing was much less smooth as he'd liked it to be.

He had fallen an unhealthy amount of times last year, too many times to count. The most memorable to him being tossed back by the massive Gideon-bot and hitting his head hard on a rock, nearly passing out if it wasn't for Mabel being in danger. So his body was ready, and he picked himself up quickly in spite of his tired muscles and hunger and thirst.

Bill stared at him, clearly expecting him to double over in pain after a fall like that. "Right," he reminded himself. "I remember your body was always durable."

Dipper shuddered. "That's a little creepy of you to say," he pointed out dryly.

Then the ex-demon realised why Dipper was being so hesitant. He hung his head, then shook it as if to shake away the bitter memory.

"Let's get at Crescent Moon, shall we?" he proposed awkwardly. Dipper also nodded his head briskly.

Was Bill really beginning to regret their brief, yet horrible for both possession experience?

The two boys approached the dragoness, who had her eyes tightly shut against the world. She wanted to lie down to rest her tired body, but the horrible chains wouldn't let her, so she just hung limply against the chains, as if she were to fall at any moment.

The two exchanged a worried glance, and Bill cleared his throat quietly. But the dragoness didn't look up. Not even an animal could tell the who the sound of someone clearing their throat belonged to.

"Primrose?" Dipper whispered quietly to her, and at his voice the dragon snapped open her eyes and lifted her head to look at them. The moment she saw the boys her spirit lifted, and her dull scales brightened. She had never looked this relieved and happy. "What have they done to you? I can't look at that muzzle."

Dipper's fingers tightened around the rope that was tied around her long snout and he began to pull. It was tight, and Primrose took the hint to pull the other way. The rope moved a little, but still it wouldn't slip off. Not until a third person came and helped them.

"On the count to three," Bill counted. "One, two, three!"

The three of them pulled with all their might, and with one final tug the rope let go and fell to the floor like an idle snake.

At that moment Primrose made two noises, the first that sounded a lot like 'Bill', the second suspiciously similar to 'Dipper'. Her forked tongue flickered out of her mouth to lick at the boy's faces like an excited dog, lapping at the hair beneath their hats, covering the fringes with dry slobber.

"Alright you oversized snake, you're happy to see us," Bill grumbled, wiping the saliva from his face and attempted to get some out of his already messy hair. Dipper didn't want to offend the dragon, so he let it dry on his face and hair. Oh well, he was never a clean-freak like Mabel was.

"You keep a lookout," he commanded to Bill. "I'll see if I can get Primrose out of these chains."

"Roger that," Bill agreed and took to stand guard.

All while Dipper got closer to peer at the shackles. In reality, they weren't shackles at all. The thing around Primrose's neck, that was a carthorse harness. The shackles at her wings and ankles, those were just dog collars. Did these people harm animals too? It appeared so, otherwise they wouldn't show much interest in the dragon. So it looked like Dipper would have to get Primrose out of binds again, just like he got her out of the snare trap back when they first met.

First came the wings, ones which were bound by studded dog collars, yet easiest to undo the belt-like buckles. Up the wings rose, uncurling to their fullest and waved greatly like colossal military banners, torn but triumphant.

The horse harness took a while. Dipper bit his bottom lip in irritation as he fiddled with the clasps, but he eventually used the metal rod to pry open the clasps and managed to pull it over Primrose's head and lay it gently on the ground to not make any noise. One by one the ankle binds came off, but when he got to the hind leg Primrose was desperately keeping off the ground, she whimpered as he freed it.

It was at that moment Dipper realised that it was stiff, unmoving, yet painful. When Dipper asked her to move the claws, she couldn't. The leg was broken.

Hmm... he needed a split to make sure her leg would mend properly. A long stick would suffice, but where would he find such a twig? His brown eyes set onto Bill's black cane.

"Bill, can you lend me your cane for a moment?" he asked him. Bill glared at him in confusion.

"What for?"

Dipper pointed to Primrose' hind leg. "Her leg is broken, and we need to put on a splint. Can we use your cane to make sure it's straight? We can substitute it for something else once we get out of here."

Bill looked unsure, but sighed in defeat once he realised there was no other way. He tossed the black cane to Dipper, who caught it like catching a regular hockey stick. By coincidence, the length of the dragon's lower leg bone was nearly identical to that of Bill's cane. Perfect!

So Dipper strapped the cane to stiffen Primrose's leg, using the rope that had previously muzzled her. She sniffed at it curiously, just like an animal would when fitted with human accessories. Their cat back at California did that when Mabel tried to dress it up.

"It's a splint," Dipper assured her, once against standing to his feet. "It'll make sure your leg heals properly."

The dragoness nodded reluctantly, taking another sniff at it.

"Guys, it won't be long before those blokes come by here," said Bill. "Let's get out of here before they manage to tare out my other eye."

Dipper and Primrose nodded their heads in agreement, quickly following Bill out into the corridors again. Primrose was limping, but still she managed to step lightly like the humans that set her free.

Now that they've gotten the team back together, they just needed to get out of this horrible place.

If only they knew the way. Oh well, no matter. They would find a way out, or die trying. The latter was most probable, but each of the three would do everything in their power to make it the former. Anybody would.

So once again it was the routine of quietly stalking down the corridors, breathing silently through their noses and carefully stepping to make sure they made as little sound as possible. Tense situations like these caused the sense of hearing to amplify, and caused the three to jump at any small sound that they did not cause. And since this place turned out to be infested with mice, their scurrying sent jolts of panic through the adrenalin-overdosed hearts of the three. Primrose's ears were poised and alert, and Dipper's hands tightened around the thin metal rod he held as his weapon.

It would be often that they would hide in abandoned prison cells to avoid being caught by their captors. Occasionally, it became necessary to knock out the guards that wouldn't budge or let them past. They would do this by a swift punch to the lower jaw or side of the head, if it were Bill or Dipper who did so, or tossing them back into a wall with a powerful blow from a wing or a tail, in Primrose's case. It was always satisfying to see justice delivered to the wrongdoers, and this time was no different. However each tiny victory was short-lived, as the one thing they were desperately seeking was lost.

Whether it was hours, days or weeks, the time spent down in those tunnels kept the trio on edge, hunger and thirst prodding at them relentlessly, a stomach growling here and there. Move tongue, get saliva, swallow.

It was then that Primrose lifted her head, her ears pointing to a specific direction. She whispered quietly to her compadres in her soft dragon voice. An animal had better hearing than a human's, and looked like dragons were no exception. She was their guide, so naturally the two boys followed her without any hesitation.

The human walls grew in size, getting wider and taller, and soon another sound joined that of the travellers, one that even Dipper and Bill could hear.

Steady droplets.

Droplets meant water.

Water meant hydration.

Eventually the smooth-cut stone ended, and opened up into a small enclosed cave, where the illumination of firelight ceased to exist, replaced by the soft blue glow of algae around the rough walls. Dipper tipped back his head to look at the ceiling, where pointed stone blades hung down, lined with sharp ridges. A drip of water hung from each tip, and would drop down to the floor below, where another drop would slowly form and the process would be repeated. Where were the droplets going?

A massive pool of water stood still at the base of the rocks, unable to evaporate with the lack of heat or sink into the solid stone. The pool was so still it showed a perfect reflection of the ceiling, and when a droplet would splash into the reflection, it rippled and disrupted the image greatly for a little while before it returned to its stillness.

 _WATER!_

Dipper was the first to make a desperate dash towards the pool, shortly followed by Bill and Primrose. He fell to his knees by the pool and dipped his whole face into the freezing cold water, opening his mouth and taking in gallons of water at a time. He kept his head submerged, drinking, until air became a necessity and he pulled back, scattering droplets of water from his hair. Never before in his life had he been so grateful for water. The dryness was gone from his mouth, and his organs once again kicked back into regular functioning. A human being could last a long time without food, without water, not so much.

Primrose's tongue flickered out, drinking the cool water just like any animal would, though it was rapid and glad, sending massive ripples throughout the pool. Bill was at his other side, taking the water in his cupped hands and drinking from that. Dipper took a deep breath and dunked his head back into the pool.

Once again he took his face back out, panting for air. Thank the heavens!

"Finally!" Bill breathed next to him. "I needed that."

"We all did," Dipper replied, standing back to his feet. His eyes glanced around the cave that the corridors had lead to. The algae on the walls gave off a strange, pale blue light that was dimmer than the orange torchlight in the corridors. The ridged rocks surrounding the walls were glistening in their glow. It looked like there was no exit this way. At least they got rid of their thirst. "I don't think there's a way out this way," he announced to his two compadres. "Are you ready to keep going?"

Primrose nodded her head and stood to her three working legs. Bill took one last sip before following her lead.

The blue light of the cave melted away and the firelight from the torches once again hung around the now smoother corridors.

 _Turn left... right... then left again... then straight on..._

 _Hide! The predators are coming!_

A few million more minutes passed, and the reassurance of the water faded away into uneasiness once again. They were still trapped down these corridors, and the twisting tunnels were beginning to be repetitive, almost like they've been there before.

The corridors opened up to a room once again, and Dipper's hopes sank.

This is where they found and released Primrose from...

They've been going around in circles this whole time!

"Are you kidding me?" he growled loudly, forgetting for a moment that they desperately needed to be quiet. "Is there even an exit to this place? We're doomed!"

Primrose wailed quietly beside him, ears drooping with her spirit. The dragon and the boy had lost hope. But the ex-demon didn't.

"Stop lamenting," he forcefully told his companions. "I have an idea. I just pray that the Shooting Star was powerful enough to at least grant me this power."

Primrose and Dipper looked quizzically at him. Bill had said repeatedly that Mabel's symbol, the Shooting Star, wasn't that strong a symbol, just like Question Mark, Broken Heart and Ice Bag, and was the sole reason he was stuck as a mortal in the first place. A more power symbol, such as the Pine Tree, Six Fingers or Scholar Glasses, would've reincarnated him fully. But perhaps the Shooting Star wasn't as powerless as he'd made it out to be.

Bill closed his remaining golden cat eye, and focused. For a few moments he stood still and silent, then he grimaced before a wave of power blew his mouth and eye wide open.

His familiar golden eye was gone, replaced by an endless void of stars and universe beyond. Primrose and Dipper looked at each other uneasily, before they became aware of the high-pitched noise that seemed to emerge from the former demon. It was really high-pitched, Dipper could barely hear it, but Primrose flattened her ears and her wings pressed to them to drown it out.

Animals have naturally better hearing than humans do. They can hear the high pitched-sounds that a human like Dipper couldn't, but a beast like Primrose could.

Then the noise stopped, and Bill gasped for air as his remaining eye returned to its normal golden state. His legs gave in, and he fell onto Primrose, who held him up with her massive body. Exhausted he was, which was understandable. All three of them were exhausted, but a mortal body wasn't used to executing such powerful magic like demon magic. Just making his hat and cane appear was a challenge for human Bill, so something much more difficult seemed to tare the living daylights out of him.

He took a few thousand deep breaths, barely holding himself up on Primrose's bulky shoulder. The dragoness lowered herself to the ground, so that if Bill happened to fall he wouldn't have much to drop.

"Well? Are you gonna fill us in?" Dipper asked, sitting down beside the dragoness indifferently, but inside was concerned for Bill. "What did you do?"

Bill panted for more air before he could even answer. "Remind me to never try to use my powers again," he gasped. Primrose whinnied and pressed her muzzle to his forehead, her warm breath making his hair shudder. She was concerned for him too, which was strange since beyond the corridors it was obvious the amber-scaled dragoness wasn't too fond of the golden-eyed boy. "I can... I know where the exit is," Bill announced finally.

Echolocation... of course! Though Bill didn't look smug about his accomplishment; he barely managed it. Like he said, the Shooting Star was the weakest symbol, so even Robbie Valentino, someone Bill never interacted with, could shake his hand and Bill would've been more powerful. But such is fate that the twin sister set the demon free and cursed him with the inescapable human weakness.

"Will you be able to lead us there?" Dipper asked, unable to hide his concern for his companion any longer.

Bill nodded his head and managed to stand, though it was awkward and stiff. Perhaps he was still weak from his attempt to reconnect with demon magic, or perhaps he was confused on why his peers were concerned about him. Why would they be?

"C'mon then, we have far to travel," he told them, looking up at the higher level where he and Dipper had come from. "Question is, how do we get up there?"

For an answer, Primrose limped over to the balcony, and reared up onto her strong hind leg and hooked her claws onto the wooden banister.

Bill went first, using the dragon as a ladder to the balcony. Dipper followed him, and Primrose flapped up behind them. It was progress.

Bill lead the way, instinct leading him blindly. Once again the routine of quiet stepping fell into place. But something was off. Where were the guards? Where were the predators that seemed so content in keeping them down here in these horrible, abusive tunnels? Where were they? Not that any of them wanted to see them or god forbid interact with them, but still, now the silence was uneasy and horrible.

They twisted within the corridors, quickening their pace, eager to finally get out of this awful place. They've been down here long enough.

Finally the corridor opened up into a massive empty space like a school gym-hall, however just as dingy and mouldy as the corridors behind. There were no torches in this room, yet it was still illuminated. In the distance, there was a single exit, where natural light seeped in like honey. Finally, after thousands of years of darkness and artificial light, they saw pure natural outside light.

There! Right there! Their freedom!

This time it was Primrose who made a dash towards the exit first, however a nanosecond later Bill and Dipper followed her, using their remaining strength for the final sprint towards their freedom. Freedom!

But it was too good to be true. Why would the exit be unguarded like that? It seemed too easy... And indeed it was.

Right before Primrose reached the exit, however, an iron cross-barred gate slammed over the exit, blocking off their exit. The dragoness gave a terrified screech and skidded to a halt, causing the two boys following her to smack right into her tail.

 _Trapped_.

Dipper looked back, and his insides flipped inside out.

There were many tunnels leading from the wide room, where hoards of men scurried out like dozens of massive black insects. Some were perfectly healthy, others had bandages around their heads, and one of them... that man... a reddening bandage was wrapped around his torso, clogging the near-fatal wounds in his belly Dipper had given him mere hours before. His cold, dead eyes were fixed on him, not leaving his face, and Dipper instantly backed away to feel Bill's body press against his. The tiny metal rod he had held gladly as his weapon for the entirety of their escape, what could it do against all of them?

"Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." One of the men stood forward, presumably the leader. He had a bushy beard, yet was bald at the top of the head. The others were barely held back, just like rabid dogs trained to kill. What a disgusting sight.

The three backed away so that they were pressed against the cold iron gate, and each felt the cold wind of outside hit their backs. That was their freedom, and an iron gate stood in their way. The men were closing in.

Bill was the first to lower himself into a fighting stance, closely followed by Primrose, who curled her tail around the two boys and spread her wings. Dipper took a deep breath and also prepared himself to battle, his trusted makeshift dagger held tightly in both hands. It was at times like where he couldn't afford to be scared, but he was terrified. There was only three of them, and at least fifty of the predator people. They were badly outnumbered.

"You can surrender to us, and your deaths will be mostly painless," the man continued, his voice calm, disturbingly calm. He knew that the three had no chance to take out all of them. "If you chose to fight, I dare not describe the things my men will do to you. But I assure you, it will be most painful for the trouble you've caused us already."

It was Bill who answered the man. "You liar!" he hissed back, loud enough for everyone to hear. "You'll do whatever you want to us, whether we surrender or not!" Primrose punctuated the ex-demon's words with a loud snarl. Bill was smart. He was buying them some time... to do what exactly? To spare them from doom for just a while longer as far as Bill was concerned.

But Dipper took this time to analyse the room. There were men at every side, each armed with their bare firsts alone, and black belts holding something Dipper could not make out from the distance. Each were cold, older than thirty at least, and banded together. However those big brown eyes of his managed to pierce behind the threat and notice something vital.

Dipper was always a very observant person, and it was those crucial times like these his trait came into his advantage.

At the furthest wall there was something that looked like a wagon wheel, except without the outer rim. It was wooden, and linked up to chains that snaked up the wall and along the ceiling. Dipper's eyes followed the chain, and landed behind him at the iron bar gate. Of course! His heart lifted into a tiny spark of hope. There was a chance! They just needed a distraction- he couldn't do it himself.

While Bill talked, Dipper gently nudged Primrose with his elbow and whispered something incoherent to anyone else. The dragoness nodded subtly and continued to growl and show her side teeth.

"Very well," the leader to the predators replied once Bill told him that they would find a way out or die trying. The man raised his hand, and the men at his command got ready. "Remember, this was your choice." He closed his fist, and the men began to move forward.

"PRIMROSE NOW!" Dipper bellowed suddenly. At his command, the dragon threw her head back and shot a great blast of fire towards the army.

In that moment Dipper darted from the dragon's side, dragging Bill behind him. Primrose was strong, and was armed with fire, claws and teeth. She would be alright.

"What are you-"

"I know how to raise the gate!" Dipper yelled back, desperation clear in his voice. The room temperature rose again, fire now dancing everywhere. Just like in the wildfire. But now, unlike the wildfire, the flames were on his side.

What was once his foe, was now his friend.

Dipper snaked between the men swiftly, pressing forward towards the turning wheel. If he had not been as agile as he turned out to be, he would've had to rely on Bill to bulldoze past the predators. He ran faster, and faster and faster. Until the white chain sprung to life and choked Dipper until he jumped back, spinning round to see why the chain had reacted.

Bill had fallen!

Dipper barely hesitated before he sprung to his aid. He jumped on one of the men keeping Bill down, taring him away. "Get off him!" he yowled, unbalancing the creature until he fell over, Dipper leaping away in the nick of time. Bill shook the other guy off and darted after Dipper.

"Thanks Dip," he breathed as they kept running. The wheel was close now, and the majority of the predators focused on Primrose, who had turned the entire hallway into hellfire. But there were still some in the way.

They couldn't snake past them. There were too many. While Bill lashed out and fought back with his bare hands alone, difficult to say whether he enjoyed the thrill of battle or was deeply grossed out by it, Dipper had another stroke of genius. He raised his voice, and out came a chant that he heard Bill mumble back in their cell. It was a perfect mimicry of Bill's voice, and once again the chain sprung to life. Bill glared at him once he realised the chain was called, but all Dipper had to do was blink at him and he understood what Dipper had planned. What once was a curse could be a blessing. This chain could be their weapon, but they had to work together.

Dipper and Bill as one person.

Luckily they got hang of it pretty quickly, moving swiftly in unison with little to no words spoken between them. The chain between them tensed, then fell, then tensed again, tripping up the brutes or knocking them out with powerful blows. It almost looked like the two boys were dancing together in battle, focused in some sort of trance, the flames about them crackling and reaching higher. The last man realised that he had no chance against the two while they were mind-blended and working as a single being, so he fled into the flames, never to be seen again.

Suddenly the unspoken connection between the boy and the demon was shattered, and they returned back to reality.

Dipper would lie if he said he wasn't stupefied. He realised that he no longer felt any fear, only exhilaration and calmness. Somehow, just somehow, he knew what Bill was doing and acted accordingly, and somehow, just somehow, Bill responded in the same way. Perhaps it was the curse? Perhaps.

"C'mon then Pine Tree, the wheel!" Bill snapped him out of his thoughts and raced the little distance to the wheel, Dipper hot on his heels.

They weren't bothered by the predators while they heaved the wooden wheel with all their might. It turned slowly at first, but gained speed as together they raised the gate, once again unlocking their freedom.

There it was! An open doorway! Their way to safety and freedom!

The brown haired boy gasped in relief, leading the charge towards the door. They would call Primrose once they've found her in the chaos, it was no big deal.

But something made Dipper halt. A loud noise which at first he thought was a firework, but then realised that it was in fact a gunshot.


	10. Chapter 10: A Demon's Heart

A single steel bullet cut through the air like a knife through warm butter. It flew straight for its target, eager to finally hit it.

It didn't have to wait long to fulfil its job.

Finally it hit its target, piercing a hole in their chest. The warm blood dribbled out, and muscles encased it.

The bullet dug deeper, and eventually settled halfway through the heart.

* * *

Tourist bus at six o'clock! What a jackpot! The Mystery Shack hadn't had this big a feast for a while, and now it was time for it to feed on the green tourist bounty.

Stan had volunteered to lead the tours, since he was a professional at drawing money away from ignorant tourists and wanted to feel some nostalgia from his old job. To everyone's surprise however, Ford agreed to perform alongside his brother. Since Stanley and Stanford were identical twins, all they had to do was dress the same way and nobody could tell them apart. So, to confuse the living daylights out of the tourists, both Ford and Stan dressed up as Mr. Mystery, so that the same man could be in two places at once. That was sure to keep their audience entertained.

Meanwhile Soos took to fixing a leak in the gift shop's microphone system, the one that was used to make announcements throughout the shack. Soos decided that he was going to double as a repair guy and the shack's boss, which was going surprisingly well. Wendy still worked as the cashier, with significantly higher pay than when Stan was boss. Though it was not much, the redhead was was satisfied that she had a few more dollars to spend on insignificant things like fireworks and prank supplies so she could pull off more stunts with her group.

It appeared to be a great day, sunny sky with little to no clouds, at least thirty degrees heat in Celsius, where the forest life around the shack seemed to thrive now more than ever. A successful day at that, since Stan had hopped into the tourist train and lead a group to the cavern of amber-encased dinosaurs, which had been made into a legit extension of the Mystery Shack, now that Soos was in charge. The ones that have gotten out were let into the wild and never seen again. Meanwhile at the exact same time Ford took another band of tourists to the rim of the forest surrounding the shack, no doubt rambling on about the many scary creatures that lurked in such places. Nobody fully believed what Ford said, but he always spoke with such a passion about the subject that some took his words as fact, though always it was only for a split second before common sense convinced them otherwise.

So while the older Pines twins were out busy with their double-act, the gift shop was empty.

Well, almost. Wendy sat at the counter, lazily reading the "Avoid Eye-Contact" magazine, not bothering to rake the long red hair out of her face. Soos worked steadily at the microphone, humming the new summer-hit under his breath, mumbling a few words here and there. All seemed normal for the two proper workers at the Mystery Shack, and for that moment it seemed as if time had rewound itself to the previous year, a time where things were... different, yet would they classify it as better? Nobody could really tell. This summer was just as, or perhaps more peaceful. There was the occasional incident with the supernatural, just last week they've had gnomes wandering into the shack and they had to pull out leaf-blowers to get them away. Those were the good times.

The boombox next to Wendy was playing a catchy tune, the one which Soos was singing along to quietly. But for everything that seemed normal, there was one little thing.

While anybody who watched the Pines family, bondage or blood, would not see, at first, that there was something missing from the scene. But the longer you looked, then you would start to realise that two crucial people were missing.

One of them was physically not present, the other couldn't be counted as the same person anymore.

Those of course were the younger Pines twins, the brown-haired, brown-eyed, born of August's end boy and girl who made their way into the townsfolk's hearts. Their last year's heroism had become known throughout the town, and their faces were welcomed willingly around the area. Children would point at them and cheer their names, recognising the twins from the family that was responsible for saving them from demon wrath. In irony, the now-thirteen-year-olds were more known and better respected than the former celebrity of Gideon Gleeful, who in turn had tried to destroy them.

But now, every person in the town; man, woman, child, knew of the fate that had come upon the Mystery Twins. A tremor had gone through the people of Gravity Falls, the news of Bill Cipher's return and abduction of Dipper Pines had spread like wildfire. All were on the prowl for golden eyes, ready to raise the alarm shall the demon show his new mortal face in the town. They knew Dipper Pines, closely or at least by sight, so his disappearance was upsetting to all.

But nobody was as distressed as his twin sister.

As stated before, the twin sister couldn't be counted as the same person anymore.

It was her fault Bill Cipher was back. It was her fault that the last year's danger was once again on the loose. It was her fault Dipper was gone. A permanent lump of guilt had formed in her throat, not letting her swallow it down.

 _I'd leave him alone if I were you, we have to get going._

 _Paranoid!_

If only she hadn't been so stubborn and eager to prove herself as brave. The only thing she accomplished in proving to her brother was how unbelievably stupid she really was.

 _What do you think will happen if I shake his hand?_

 _Mabel are you out of your mind!?_

If only she had listened to Dipper's wise words then none of this would've happened. He had warned her. He had told her, begged her even, to leave that wretched statue alone and come back home before the thunderstorm, but had she listened?

At least their blood connection had eased her just a small bit. It proved that her brother was still breathing, still alive. But even that had began to fade. Those dreams she had, those ones that felt like real life, the ones that were caused by Dipper's blood in her veins, she rarely had those anymore. And the gap between them was getting bigger. When she asked Ford about it, he had provided the answer, but it wasn't the one she had hoped for.

"The foreign blood had began to accept your cells," the old man had said. "They had forgotten Dipper's organism and had accepted yours as their new home. It appears your blood had accepted Dipper's body in turn too. The connection is fading."

Their blood E.S.P was fading. So was Mabel's hope.

But three days ago Dipper had phoned home, and Mabel's heart had lifted for that moment. His voice was still cracking, deepening and then rising, zigzagging up and down the scale like a crow having a fit. Stan and Soos and Wendy had let the phone ring the first three times, and each were shocked to hear that Dipper had somehow gotten hold of a payphone.

His voice was like honey to Mabel's ears, as if someone had put numbing herbs on an open wound. His words were woven together so well they might as well have been wicker, intertwining in baskets of sentences that calmed Mabel more than anyone before or after him could ever manage.

Not Wendy. Not Soos. Not Pacifica. Not Candy of Grenda. Not Ford. Not even Stan.

He was alive, well and speaking, and more concerned for his sister than for himself. He had told her that he too was okay, and unfortunately stuck with Bill.

But the happiness was short-lived. He had begun to stammer and panic, saying quickly that he had to go because something bad had happened to someone called Primrose. Before Mabel could finish her objection, her brother had hung up, leaving behind only a constant beeping noise.

In that moment Mabel could hear how his voice had transferred from upbeat with relief to fearful worry in a matter of seconds. Ever since that call, she had been feeling threatened by everyone around her.

Stan learned that first-hand when he asked Mabel if she wanted a second helping of pancakes, where she screamed in fright and shuffled to get away from him as if he were some predator. She only calmed down when Stan talked some sense into her and recalled her from whatever vivid hallucination she'd been having.

Mabel was sat curled up in the circle that sold t-shirts, hiding behind the cloth so that nobody could see her. She had hid in clothes racks when she was smaller, hiding from the adults with Dipper in a childish game of hide-and-seek. Now though, she wanted to escape from everything, not a sound emerging from her.

This was not normal behaviour for Mabel Pines. Anybody who was close with her knew her for her hyperactive, happy personality and optimism.

Why should she feel happy? She single-handedly caused her brother to be put in grave danger, while she got to stay within the walls of the Mystery Shack. He was in danger, she could feel it. Ford might've told her the connection was dying, but it wasn't dead yet. Dipper was hunted. By who? She didn't know, but she would be willing to bet her life it was Bill who was the threat to her younger-by-five-minutes brother.

Eventually her depression grasped the concern of the other two present in the room with her. Wendy and Soos looked at each other, and silently agreed to at least try to cheer the sad girl up. Granted they had tried to lift her spirits for the entirety of Dipper's disappearance with no success, but it didn't do harm to try again right?

So Wendy cupped her hands around her mouth and raised her voice to shout "wormy dance!"

The moment Wendy's words had left her mouth, Soos left his work and got down on his massive belly to start dancing to the beat of the music. Hoping to draw Mabel out of the ring of clothes, Wendy started to chant 'go' multiple times, cheering Soos on.

But the two had stopped awkwardly once they realised that Mabel had not reacted. She hadn't even rustled the clothes surrounding her, just stayed deathly still like a stone statue, where ironically all her problems had come from.

"Mabel are you joining the party?" Wendy asked her directly, though she already knew the answer.

"No, I'm good," came the girl's quiet reply. "You guys party without me."

"Cheer up Mabel," Soos put in. "Dipper's alive, that's good news!"

Mabel didn't reply. Something was wrong, and everything around her was threatening. She did feel guilty for being frightened of Stan earlier today, but how could she stop herself? Her heart beat rapidly, pumping adrenalin through her body so she could chose fight or flight in a matter of moments. Just for what? Where was the threat she was so scared of? There was not a sign of the mystical creatures from the forest in quite a couple of days.

The FBI government guys were gone. Pacifica Northwest was a friend. Gideon Gleeful had snapped out of his vengeance. All of their enemies were no more.

Except for one.

But Bill was with Dipper. The boy told her it himself, and there was no lie in his voice. If Dipper was lying, Mabel would know. His voice always altered when he lied, Mabel knew that. Thankfully Mabel just made a suspicious face when she was lying, and faces couldn't be projected over the phone.

So if Bill was with Dipper, and all the other enemies from the previous year were reformed or taken care of, who did that leave?

What was Mabel so subconsciously scared of?

"At least can you come out of there?" Soos requested shyly, careful with his wording shall Mabel have another panic attack. "It'll do you no good if you stay cooped up in there all the time."

"Fine," grumbled she, crawling reluctantly out of her comfort zone to sit down on the counter miserably. Soos and Wendy watched her as she did so, careful not to look at each other. The unthinkable had happened- Mabel had gone depressed.

Even in the time of the apocalypse Mabel was a role model for them all, the optimist who knitted colourful sweaters and spoke encouraging words from the heart and was an inspiration for all. Even in the darkest hours, she was bouncy and happy and determined to keep up hope and high spirit. She was the one to recover Stan's memory with her scrapbook. She got the idea from her positive thinking, and saved countless lives on numerous occasions that way. She was a hero, willing without hesitation to help other get back up on their feet.

Now though none of that was shown in her. She was terrified of the world around her, devoid of all hope and no words of encouragement leaving her tongue.

"Do you want an ice cream?" Wendy offered, but Mabel shook her head and silently stared at the blue and white pine tree hats Stan had put for sale.

Dipper had worn that hat the entire summer, the previous and this one. It was why Dipper was the Pine Tree, wasn't it? Or was the wheel another conspiracy that Great Uncle Ford would not share? Mabel didn't know and didn't care. Those hats were Dipper's, that's all she remembered.

She could imagine him standing there, smiling widely at her, the familiar hat sitting calmly atop his head. Why couldn't that be a reality?

Soos sighed and got back to work, realising that cheering Mabel up was a lost cause. Wendy wanted to attempt another try at making the girl at least lift the corners of her mouth, but decided against it. How can you cheer up someone who doesn't want to be cheered up?

A few more minutes passed in complete silence. The music played in the background, but none of the three spoke a word to each other, each lost in their own thoughts.

But then something happened. A loud boom tore through the gift shop, so loud it might as well have come from the outside. Was Stan setting off illegal fireworks off the top of the Mystery Shack again? No, it couldn't be it, Stan was with a tour.

Mabel screamed in fright when she heard the noise, a jolt sending a nasty shock through her adrenalin-overdosed heart. Her hands shot to her mouth, and she had begun to tremble all over.

Then she realised Soos and Wendy were looking at her confused.

"Didn't you hear it?" Mabel asked, panicking like crazy. "That loud noise!"

"Your scream?" Soos guessed.

It took Mabel a while to realise that the two had no clue what she was overreacting about. They heard no boom.

"I'm not hallucinating!" Mabel insisted, though Wendy and Soos didn't look convinced. To them, Mabel was desperate for any sort of lead to Dipper.

"Mabel," Wendy said softly. "Mr. Ford said your connection with Dipper was dead."

"Dying!" Mabel corrected her swiftly. "Something's exploded where Dipper is!"

But Soos had spotted other things. He wanted to ease off the situation, so he tried to draw attention to something else.

"Mabel you've something spilled on your sweater."

Mabel looked down, and surely, there was a huge red stain on the yellow wool directly over her heart.

* * *

The Cursed Chain was a complex curse not known to many people. A complicated curse that bound two individuals together by an unbreakable force, yet allowed them to do great things together.

Bill and Dipper had no experience in using their curse as an advantage, for they had just put it to good use now. However the curse knew exactly what to do.

Before Bill could hesitate, he had gone with Dipper's crazy plan. The Pine Tree most likely didn't know what the consequences were of using the chain as a weapon were, but at least it wasn't anything serious.

Bill had watched the curse's doings on other people, and laughed when they struggled with it. It was mighty entertaining to watch mortals fight an unfightable electric chain. Just that karma had come down to haunt him. Bill never thought he would be affected by that very same, tedious and annoying curse. And he had to admit he was surprised at how the curse's affects actually felt like.

The moment he and Dipper had begun to move in unison, the affects of the curse kicked in like medicine. Their minds had blended, and allowed them to function as a single being. Whatever Bill told Dipper to do, Dipper did. Whatever Dipper told Bill to do, Bill did. There was no hesitation, no words spoken between them. Their minds had somehow connected, and communicated together telepathically, not with words, but with instinct.

The mind-bond was broken once they had stopped fighting, snapping the two out of their trance and the chain once more faded into nothingness.

How strange, perhaps Bill had more in common with the youngster than he first thought.

They wasted no time. In a few moments they reached the turning wheel and tugged at it with all their might. The gateway out of hell was open. Their way to freedom and safety was free.

Now, where was that dragon? Dipper had began to run, so Bill followed him, his one eye scanning through the flames, hoping to catch a glimmer of Primrose's bright amber scales.

There she was, fighting like she'd never fought before, talons unsheathed to their fullest and dragonfire shooting out of open jaws.

Then Bill heard the gunshot. He had not heard a sound like that in a very long time, so he was confused on what he should do. The flames and smoke and rising heat around him disoriented him a little, so did the fast movements of two-legged predators around them. Inspecting himself, Bill looked to see whether he had been wounded from the gunshot, but found no trace of blood aside from the one coming from his already bleeding eye.

So next his eye darted to their dragon mother, who had not even taken into account the loud noise, and continued to wage war against their captors, roaring with her mouth hinged like a snake's.

Then Bill looked at his companion, and despite the heat of the flaming battlefield, his whole body went ice-cold.

The boy he had grown to know was looking down at his hands, which in turn were bright red. He then looked at himself. Bill followed his eyes, and saw the bullet wound shot into his chest. The red t-shirt masked the blood a little, but it didn't do a very good job of it.

Bill wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't move. He wanted to yell but no sound came from him, not even a gasp. He wanted to wake up from this awful nightmare but this was no dream. This was real life.

The brown-eyed boy exhaled a long breath, then fell backwards as his eyelids closed over his eyes. He collapsed, limp and lifeless, nothing but a bloody, tattered mess.

A loud shriek of terror tore through the heat of battle, and Bill was not aware of where it came from until he realised that his own mouth was open. His legs finally gave in and allowed him to run over to the boy, falling to his knees by his side.

"Pine Tree!" he gasped at him, shaking him to make him wake up. "Stop pretending that you're sleeping! Wake up goddammit!"

But the boy would not wake, his head had lolled back, and his eyes would not open. Panic soon began to rise in Bill's chest, as he realised that he did not know what to do. So he called the one other person who might.

"PRIMROSE!"

Bill was barely aware of the thundering footsteps, hardly hearing them over the rapid beating of his own heart.

"Pine Tree wake the fuck up!" Bill yelled at him, a curse making its way into his words. Bill cursed when he was scared, and he didn't like it. So he took the limp boy into his arms and pressed him tightly against himself, just now aware that he was surrounded.

Not by fire, but by predators.

"Oh, how sad," the leader said, taking a step forward. There was no empathy in his voice, only a dark, cold sneer. "Shoot one of them, the other goes down too. That's how partners work, and it truly was your downfall."

Bill could only give the surrounding men the dirtiest, most furious look his could muster. Though he didn't want to admit it, he recognised this behaviour. He'd behaved exactly like this when Weirdmaggeddon was unleashed. That was a scary realisation.

"Now, would you kindly hand over that dead friend of yours?" asked the leader, squatting down at Bill's level and outstretching his hand towards him. "He has no use to you anymore, but he could still serve us great things and- YEOOW!"

Bill had lunged forward and bit the monster's hand as hard as he could. He sunk his hard teeth into the skin, tasting blood and only released when he felt his teeth scrape against bone. As Bill spat out the metallic-tasting liquid that dribbled into his mouth, a crescendo of a scream rose that Bill knew the owner of. So when the men looked about in confusion, Bill got his head down and shielded himself and the fallen boy.

Surely enough, if Bill had been sitting up for two more seconds he would've had his head burned off. He could feel the explosion of dragonfire near him, drawing out cries of agony from the predators. Let them burn.

Bill raised his head, and called the dragon's name to get her attention. Primrose turned her green gaze towards him, and for a moment Bill's heart stopped.

She was looking at them like a snake at a mouse.

"Crescent Moon!" Bill called her again, and thankfully the dragon blinked and got the murderous glint out of her eyes. Though she couldn't get rid of the red blood on her teeth or the rags between her talons. She padded carefully up them, then stumbled when she noticed what had happened to Dipper.

She at first looked confused, then terrified, so much so that a quiet wail escaped from her. She lowered herself down and snapped at Bill to saddle on her back.

Bill didn't need to be told twice. He took the young boy bridal-style and quickly stepped over the dragoness to sit just before her wings.

And so Primrose bounded forward in an awful limping run caused by her broken hind leg, but fast nonetheless. She was heading straight for the opening where the cold was drowned out by the inside fire.

Bill hazard a look back, and saw that once again the men were closing the gate. "Run!" he shouted in panic. His yell seemed to electrify Primrose, for she put on a great burst of speed towards the lowering gate.

Almost there. Bill could feel his blood pumping in his ears, his heart beating so hard it could very well jump out of his chest at any moment.

As they got to the gate, the iron gate was already falling. No, they couldn't turn back now, they needed to get out. Now.

So Primrose ducked and snaked below the rapidly closing gate, and leaped out excitedly, but gave a roar of agony when she violently stopped, almost sending Bill over her head.

Her tail had got caught on the gate.

"Oh no," Bill breathed as he lay the boy on the dragon's steady back and jumped off. The men behind were already celebrating, steadily running towards them, their faces illuminated by the flames and their beady black eyes burning.

Primrose's arrow-tipped tail didn't manage to make it past the gate in time, so it had gotten pinned in one of the bottom squares, unable to get out thanks to the large arrow.

Time was running out, the men were closing in.

Bill's mind had gone numb, so he went with the single, most dumb idea he could ever possibly have.

His hands curled round the barred gate and he attempted to lift it. But even his abnormal strength was not enough. But then Primrose stood at his side, her own paws put under the iron and both began to heave.

It took them a few tries to muster their strength together to even lift the iron barred gate a few inches. But a few inches was enough. Primrose yanked her tail out from under the gate, once again free.

However the men had already got to them. Bill leapt back away from the gate in the nick of time as a massive hand stretched through one of the openings to claw at the air just before Bill's face.

Thankfully Bill didn't let himself hesitate for long. Once again leaping onto Primrose's back, he got a tight hold of the boy and they were once again fleeing from the shouts of the men behind, calling to raise the gate so that they could give chase.

But by that point Primrose was already running at full pelt along the tunnel, which tilted upwards towards the surface. The cool wind blew welcomingly at them, offering the cool-down from the looming corridors.

Eventually Primrose emerged into a busted living room of a destroyed house.

Destroyed house...?

That town! Those murderous dungeons were down below that abandoned town!

Primrose hadn't wasted time. She had leapt through the already broken window, and into the shady town where they had been captured.

The sky was grey and rain was falling heavily down in massive droplets. The wind howled and the smell of freshness drifted towards them.

But they weren't safe yet. The men would pursue them shortly. So before they stalled too long, Primrose unfurled her wings and leapt towards the sky.

The orange dragoness had attempted to fly with the two two-legs on her back once before, and didn't manage to carry all three of them into air. But fact was, both Bill and Dipper had drastically lost weight during their journey, but Primrose had not. A dragon was used to living in the wild, replenishing what she needed and was used to travelling great distances.

So Primrose's wings beat the gale as she managed to lift them slightly above the trees and engaged with a wild battle against the rain.

They were finally free, leaving the treacherous town, the awful dungeons and terrifying predator people behind.

But was the price to pay too high?

The beat of Primrose's wings was calming. Beat... Beat... Beat... Bill had never ridden upon a dragon's back before, and he just wished this experience had been in better conditions than this. Running away from horrible people, with Dipper's limp body bleeding in his arms, in the pouring rain. The rain soaked through his skin, making him shiver in the wind. He looked up, and noticed the hill they had watched the sunset oh so long ago, back when the most dangerous things were food poisoning and a mere wildfire. Though the oh-so-faraway hill was barely visible through the rain, Bill thought he saw the dark figures of two boys and a dragon standing atop the hill.

The ex-demon shook his head, scattering water droplets from his golden hair like some long-furred dog, but it was useless for in a few moments he was soaked by the rain again. He tried shaking his head again, but he found that this time it was half-heartedly, as if to only distract himself.

For a few more minutes Primrose flew, her legs sometimes catching on the highest branches from the extra weight. She growled softly to the boy atop her back, looking slightly back at him.

"We have to get out of the rain," Bill mumbled to her, patting her neck gently with a free hand. "Do you know a place? Aside from that terrifying town?"

For an answer Primrose folded her wings and dived below the canopy, causing Bill's lower organs to come up to his throat. His golden hair was blown back out of his face, and he clutched on for dear life.

Outstretching her legs, Primrose landed into a run, slowing down to a jog, then a walk.

And she continued to walk for a while longer through the dense plants before she came upon a slight hill. She jumped over to the other side, which revealed a dark cave open like a hungry mouth, lichen hanging over the entrance like a curtain. Primrose wasted no time and pushed through the lichen and into the cave.

But it was not just an empty cave like Bill had expected it to be. There was an extinguished campfire in the middle, and an elevated bit of rock like stairs lined one side of the cave, where moss hung from the edge.

Primrose sat down, and Bill slipped off her back, still holding Dipper's body close to himself. The dragoness padded over to the higher level to grab some of the moss, not even stopping to shake the water from her scales. As Bill trembled on his feet, Primrose made a nest of moss next to the wood, sticks and cinders. So Bill lay the limp boy on the bed of moss while Primrose coughed and the campfire was once again set ablaze.

This was Primrose's home.

But neither Bill or Primrose sat to rest. The dragoness shook herself dry, then opened her mouth and blew warm air at the two boys, drying them off like a living hairdryer. In a few moments the two were dry once more. The boy dipped his head in thanks, then turned his attention to Dipper.

They needed to do something!

In that moment Bill made a split second decision. He sat down beside him, and raised his hand over the wound. If Dipper was to survive, they needed to get the bullet out of his heart.

Once again Bill focused his power, and Dipper flinched. It was one of the powers Bill could still perform, about as difficult as making his hat and cane appear, so it was not a problem. The ex-demon focused, and the Pine Tree gasped in his unconsciousness as the bullet burst free back out of the wound and into Bill's already bloodstained hand.

However that only caused the wound to bleed more.

"Oh no!" Bill cried, only realising now that one of Dipper's most vital organs were fatally damaged. The boy was going to die. The panic once again rose in Bill's chest. He threw the wretched bullet away to the side and looked up at Primrose with fearful eyes. "How do you heal a damaged heart?" he asked her urgently.

But for once, the one who had guided them through the unknown, been their steed in times of need and helped them when they needed it, didn't know how to help. She wanted to, but what use was she if she had no idea how to heal an organ? She had healed her own, shallow wound from the hunter trap with just her saliva alone, but there were no vital functions that were damaged. Dipper had been shot through the heart.

A nasty chill of fear went through Bill's entire body as Primrose shook her head sadly. "There has to be a way!" he wailed at her, a new tone to his voice which he had never heard himself use before. "Pine Tree can't die!"

Though the dragoness shivered at his desperate tone, she hung her head and couldn't look him in the eye.

Time was running out, Dipper's heart beat slower every second.

Perhaps Bill could reach out to his demon powers once more, like he did back into those dungeons? A demon could cause harm, but could heal as well...

Though it would be impossible. Bill had never healed anyone before in his entire life, even as a demon, so how was his weaker form supposed to handle an unfamiliar reach of his power when even making his cane and hat appear was like running a marathon?

It didn't matter. Bill had to try. If Dipper died at his hands, he didn't know what he would do with himself.

So Bill placed a shaking hand over the wound and felt the warm blood against his fingers. Focus...

For the first few moments nothing happened. _Come on Bill, you should know how to do this,_ the ex-demon told himself. He reached further into his mind, and discomfort started to gnaw at his fingertips, where the output was supposed to gather. Yet nothing of value was happening. At least it was a sign that Bill was on the right track.

Eventually discomfort turned to pain, and pain turned to agony. His one eye tightly closed and his teeth gritted together, he reached even further. Though it felt like the staircase he was trying to climb was getting longer and longer and the ball and chain was getting heavier and heavier. Still nothing.

Perhaps such a weakling as a human could not physically perform such magic? Perhaps the Shooting Star was too weak to be able to grant the power of saving someone's life?

No, Bill had to do this. There was no such thing as impossible, only improbable.

But would the agony be too much for Bill to bare? His bones were snapping, his muscles were tearing, his blood was on fire.

The golden boy had begun to shake uncontrollably, unable to reach the power necessary to heal the fallen's heart. The human boy had saved Bill's life countless of times before.

Spared him even though Bill was a threat... Woke everyone up when the wildfire took place... Pulled him to the surface when he was about to drown... Gave him charcoal on multiple occasions to help with his food poisoning... Protected him from the predator in the mirror-room... Stopped the blood loss from his cut-out eye...

And Bill couldn't even save his life once. How pathetic.

A demon may rig their deals, may not even fulfil their end of the bargain. But for once Bill felt the need to repay his dept. He couldn't allow the boy to die, not after all they've been through.

He was alive and standing a few moments before, fighting with him...

With one final reach Bill's fingertips erupted with a golden glow. Though it only lasted a mere moment. The agony was too much for Bill to bare.

His eye opened wearily, yet his vision was clouded by black and white spots. The surge of power vanished gradually from his body as Bill collapsed next to his fallen comrade, loosing his sense of consciousness.

* * *

Though it wasn't for long. Bill opened his eye once again and sat up groggily, as if waking up from a bad dream. Had he done it?

His senses cleared, and the sight was not what he had hoped for.

Dipper was still in a coma-state, chest faintly falling and rising. But fortunately the guide had taken things into her own paws.

She had began to lap at the wound with her tongue, just as she had done with her own injuries. The dragon's saliva had incredible anti-bacterial properties after all, and it cleaned away the blood that had been spilled. Though the blood was still escaping from the bullet-hole.

Even Bill's demon healing was not enough. Perhaps it was because he was too weak- his attempt hadn't healed the boy completely.

He could still die.

What did Dipper do when Bill had his eye cut out by the switchblade? Covered it up with a makeshift bandage to stop blood from escaping.

Though what could they use as a bandage that was big enough to wrap around the boy's chest?

The ex-demon's hands untied his bow-tie- a long strip of black fabric, perfect for wrapping around things.

With Primrose's help, the two managed to wrap the bandage once around Dipper's chest, closing the wound and preventing more blood loss.

But what different could it make now? The boy had already lost a lot of blood. Though his heart was mostly healed, the bullet was safely out and the wound bandaged, the boy was still limp and lifeless.

Pain pounded in Bill's head, still from the attempt at healing magic, so Bill lay down on the soft moss again, panting for the sweet-tasting forest air. Breathing was kinda nice... as a floating triangle he didn't breathe, and didn't know such things at how fresh the air could taste if they were in the middle of a forest, or how painful it was if it was smoke-infested like it was when the forest was burning. He closed his eye for a moment, imagining the pretty sunset they had watched atop that hill.

Suddenly he felt his bandage being ripped right off his head. He flinched and tried to sit up, but a wide paw kept him down.

"What the-"

Next thing he new there was something warm and wet sliding against his wound, stinging as the anti-bacterial saliva took effect.

"Crescent Moon get off me!" Bill yowled, trying to get the dragoness away from him, but she growled at him to stop squirming and continued to clean his wound. So Bill forced himself to lay still, reminding himself that it was to avoid the wound getting infected, which Dipper had warned him about. Primrose mumbled something between licks, and Bill suddenly wished that he knew what she was saying. As a demon, he could understand every language, ones used by humans, ones used by supernaturals, ones used by animals. If only.

 _I'm sorry my sweet baby, I wish I've been there._

The voice Bill suddenly heard was deep, yet feminine, just the right tone for Primrose's usual dragon voice. Did... Did he just hear Primrose speak? Though it was just that little sentence, the rest was just animal noises. Poor thing...

Soon enough Bill was tying the red cloth around his head again, the guide giving him an unimpressed gaze as if to say: "see? that wasn't so bad!" Bill thanked her awkwardly, sighing a huge sigh. His hand pressed to his forehead, he sat up to stare into the flames absent-mindedly, lost in thought.

Each of the three were badly wounded, so they couldn't travel. At least not in this state. They needed to recover before they continued their journey. That is if they recovered at all.

A sudden song caused Bill to jump and look back at the dragon. She had lay down her massive body next to the fallen human, lapping occasionally at his face, beginning to sing a strange beast lullaby.

The song was in a minor key, with a wolf-note here and there, in a language Bill couldn't understand anymore. Despite that, it was still stunningly beautiful. A lament punctuated with wolf howls, dolphin calls and other beautiful noises Bill had not heard in a long time.

Bill couldn't look at her anymore, so he hugged his knees and turned back to look at the flames. It wasn't that difficult to see that Primrose had gotten quite attached to both of the two-legged creatures. She treated them like her own flesh and blood.

There was nothing more painful to watch than a mother weeping over her dead child.

So Bill didn't. He just listened to the string of notes in dragon tongue, listening silently and without a word. He had never really understood at how music could make a person feel. But now, Primrose's lullaby was mirroring whatever he was feeling. The grief, the strangeness, the calmness... Weren't lullabies supposed to be happy to rest little children to sleep? That's what Bill always thought. But the lamenting lullaby was nothing like all those other ones he'd heard throughout the many years he had lived. This was despair. Ultimate despair.

Though suddenly Bill's stomach rumbled, wailing at its master to feed it. None of the three had anything to eat ever since that stag Primrose had dragged back and killed right in front of them before running into that shady town. How long has that been?

Primrose's song abruptly ended, and she hit the diamond marking on her forehead with a sheathed paw. She lifted her great body off the ground and shook herself once again, turning to pad back outside.

"Where are you going?" Bill asked her, though he already knew the answer.

Primrose signalled to her mouth with a wing talon, telling Bill in her own way that she was going out to hunt for food. Without further stalling, the amber dragoness slipped out of the cave and back into the rain.

Primrose had left the two boys alone before- she needed be alone to catch prey, and Bill had been alone with Dipper before, and silence hung between them every time their guide left.

Now the silence settled down once again, but this time Bill didn't want it to be silent. He strained his ears to hear Dipper breathe, but the boy was breathing so quietly that Bill couldn't hear it, that is if the boy was breathing at all. For a few moments Bill was with a wordless argument with himself, neither side able to win at first, but then the newer thoughts began overpowering his old way of thinking.

He had seen what he had acted like from the victim's point of view, felt the pain on his own skin, not his vessel's. All this time he claimed to know fear, but he had been shown true terror. Did he really want to be like that anymore?

Without a word Bill stood to his feet to stretch himself wearily, then sat down next to the fallen Pine Tree, wondering what it was that humans did to check if someone's heart was still beating. What was it called? A... A pulse! That was what humans called it, right?

He should know how to check someone's pulse, he'd watched humans for the entire time they existed! Bill hesitated, then pressed two fingers to the side of Dipper's neck somewhat awkwardly. Nothing. Maybe he was searching in the wrong place?

He moved his fingers, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found the pulse. It was slow and weak, and slowing down.

Dipper's heart was still beating, though only just.

Yes, he had lied to Dipper about the curse. He had said that if one of them died, the other would die as well, but in reality that couldn't be further from the truth. If one died, it would be one of the many ways the cursed electric chain could be broken. Bill told this lie to keep Dipper from figuring it out, and himself got close to revealing his lie when he leapt twice at him. While Primrose stopped him the first time, the thought of Dipper being useful stopped him the second. He needed the boy's help whether he liked it or not.

If he had looked upon this sight with his ignorant demon eye, he wouldn't hesitate for a second. He would've left him to die alone, slowly and in pain, or at the very least kill him quickly to put him out of his misery.

Bill tried his very best to go back to that mentality, that ruthlessness, that insanity, that bloodlust without regret. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't. Deep down, Bill didn't want to. He'd seen how horrifying true evil really was, felt the pain, fear and hopelessness of the prey on his own skin. The Shooting Star had not only cursed him with a human body, but a human mind as well. With which came something that could be any creature's downfall: emotion.

He had only felt a select few emotions in his demon form, among which were anger, glee and the such. Now, many more joined him, and it was weighing on him greatly like the unliftable boulder of trying to use demon powers while so weak.

Bill thought he would never feel such things, even as a human. For trillions of years he had surrounded himself with lies, terror and manipulation. He had terrorised too many too count, he killed in cold blood, tore family and friends apart, nearly destroyed the entire dimension just like he did with his own. How could someone as cold and as unfeeling as Bill suddenly begin to feel? Yet somehow, despite Bill doing everything in his power to eradicate it, there was still hope for him. Somehow, after all these years of villainy and anger, the tiny spark which Bill was trying so hard to bury and destroy had survived.

Bill remembered all the terrible things he did to Dipper and his family and his friends. The possession, putting them in mortal peril, holding them hostage and taring them and their world apart. That was a time of relentless murder, which had turned into a lump of guilt in his throat.

Bill remembered the desperation of fight and flight, his life on the line the entire time he had gone on this perilous journey. He had put his abnormal strength to good use in building campfires, running and fighting in those dingy corridors. The thrill was brilliant, another thing that came with the human body that Bill came to bizarrely enjoy: adrenalin.

Bill remembered that the entire time on this journey, Dipper was with him. The boy he once hated had been at his side constantly, partly because the curse forced him too, but of recent time it was his choice. The boy had helped him, countless times, even back when Bill was still a demon whether he knew it or not.

And Bill remembered the times where fighting was a pleasure, knowing Dipper was with him, fighting back to back, in such perfect harmony that it was difficult to tell where the boy ended and the demon began.

Pine Tree had somehow got through Bill's ridiculously thick exterior and reached the tiny spark that Bill thought was gone. The boy had done the unthinkable without realising it. He had broken the demon.

Dipper had been at his side, helping both him and their dragon guide. It was Dipper who smiled and cried and laughed and yelled and whimpered. If it wasn't for him, both Primrose and Bill would be dead. What Bill failed to realise was that during the course of the journey, unknown to him at first, he had grown to care for the boy.

This was the boy he once terrorised. His messy brown hair would stick out at all angles, covering the strange constellation birthmark on his forehead, the pine tree hat sitting calmly on his head. His muddy brown eyes twinkled with excitement whenever he was faced with the supernatural or a mystery to solve, a warm smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

And Bill Cipher loved him.

The love of a blood brother.

And now that very same brother was lying weak, unconscious from the pain of the gun-wound. A wound which was beginning to leak through the makeshift bandage. His chest rose and fell steadily, though the breaths were shallow and slow. His heart was still beating, though it was beating slower every second. Dipper was dying, and Bill had no idea how to stop it.

He and Primrose had done everything they thought of. What else was needed?

Bill wasn't used to this feeling. This feeling of hopelessness and sadness. He didn't want the boy to die. The feeling, Bill wanted it to leave him alone. But it didn't. Nor could it. It just kept growing, and growing, and growing.

His one remaining working eye had began to leak, and a warm tear rolled down his cheek and splattered onto the cold floor. After that came another, then another, and another. His right hand kept at Dipper's pulse, making sure it was still beating.

Beat, beat, beat... beat... beat...beat...beat...beat...

His left hand pressed up to his own face, trying to muffle his own quiet whimpers and whispers of incoherent rambling.

"Please Dipper, don't leave me."


	11. Chapter 11: Reincarnation

The sun was setting, the sky behind the trees was no longer blue, but a combination of reds and oranges. No clouds danced across the sky, and the air was still. Ah what a beautiful day to end August with.

A young dragoness snaked among the plants, the dry branches raking against her scales, which she knew were glowing a bright amber in the setting sun. Those big holly green eyes of hers were opened into tiny slits, scanning for movement up ahead. Her ear flickered, and her nose twitched. Since there was no wind, scenting prey would be difficult, but at least the prey wouldn't smell the predator either. Hunting in dry, windless conditions such as these was a walk in the park for a young veteran like the yellow flower, but for a change she would not be the one hunting.

Behind her stood another dragon, significantly smaller than the she was, however catching up to her hight and would surpass her soon with the coming of his second year. His brilliant blue scales wouldn't provide much in terms of camouflage, but he would learn to be more quick and agile that way.

The bigger reptile purred at him, and stepped back. It was a mentor's duty to train the young everything they needed to know. They needed to know how to hunt, fly, fight and the such. And this strange dragon cub, with his strange constellation mark atop his forehead, was doing surprisingly well in running and agility, surpassing many of his young peers, however didn't do so well in strength. But now, it was time for the youngster to make his first catch.

Primrose sat down calmly on the undergrowth, her tail curling into a tight not beside her as the lithe blue cub crouched and stalked forward into the bracken, his tail snaking behind him like some exotic snake. If he had learned correctly, he would've heard the scurrying of a pheasant not too far off, and by now should smell it past the disorienting scent of the bracken.

However suddenly he leapt away, giving chase. Something must've gone wrong. Sighing loudly to herself, Primrose stood to her feet once again and picked up into a steady canter to follow the small one into the tight bushes. She could hear his paws thundering against the soft forest floor, then a hard surface. A second noise joined, one that Primrose had not heard before. Her head emerged from the plants, and her heart stopped.

She had not realised that she had lead them so close to the human road. If it wasn't for that stupid mistake, he wouldn't be out on that black tar now, determined to catch a fool's prey. If it wasn't for Primrose's stupid mistake, a huge black human vehicle wouldn't be inches away from his body.

The dragoness shrieked in panic as the monster collided with the dragon cub, causing him to scream out in pain and tumble under the wheels. It was over as fast as it started, the nightmare machine driving off without another thought, leaving behind a trail of glistening blood, shining a dark gold in the setting sun, the young dragon laying on the road, not moving a muscle under the battered blue scales.

Primrose's whole head began to swim as she burst free from the cover of the plants to whine and whimper at the cub to get up onto his paws, begging him to open his emerald eyes. Her long snout nudged his head, trying to wake up, and when that didn't work her forked tongue lapped at his marked forehead.

The dragoness didn't want to notice that some of those precious blue scales have been torn off the cub's body, leaking bright scarlet liquid that would usually be seen in prey. She didn't want to notice that those powerful wings of his were crumbled and twisted, as were his sleek long legs. She didn't want to see the open mouth with the tongue hanging limply from it, not exhaling a single breath.

She didn't want to believe that the dragon cub was dead.

* * *

Many years later, the yellow flower sat on a hill, the night around her calm and motionless. It was windless, just like on that sorrowful day thirteen years ago. The sun had already set, and now it was dark, the stars above the canopy talking brightly among themselves, looked after the waxing gibbous moon. It was almost a full moon, and it didn't have to wait long for it to become a full silver circle in the sky.

The yellow flower sat so still that nobody would know she was even there at all. The colossal wings drifted gracefully at her sides, catching the moonlight like two mirrors. Her long deer-like ears were strained for any small sound, catching out even the tiniest scurrying of nocturnal animals around her, but not paying them much attention. Two brilliantly-coloured green eyes looked up at the starry sky, coloured so vividly that it looked like they had been infected with toxic waste- that vibrant forest-green colour was not natural, at least for humans.

Below the hill was a cave opening. The entrance to her home. It had been so empty for thirteen long years, strangely loosing its sense of comfort after that tragic accident on that human road. But now it held more than one resident once more.

If only the other dragons knew that the orange dragoness had taken in two lost scaleless creatures as if they were firebreathers themselves. They were just cubs! Lost and in need of taking care of. Those strange two-legged creatures helped her, so the dragoness decided to help them in turn. But that was only partially the reason why she had stuck around them like a shadow or a curse or a guardian angel.

One of those two-legged creatures was special.

Suddenly Primrose's eyes caught out the thing she was searching for. Seven stars, significantly brighter than the rest, arranged in the pattern that Primrose loved. For the first time that night the dragoness moved, causing multiple terrified foxes to sprint away from the gigantic predator. But she had no intent on hurting the prey. Her paw lifted and touched the red diamond on her own forehead, ever so gently. All dragons bore a unique mark upon their forehead, never repeated in past, present or future, just like a fingerprint.

That constellation was his mark. Those seven stars were his identity.

He was Vesper. Blue dragon of the Big Dipper Constellation.

And now he was gone.

Or so Primrose had thought.

When she first looked at that pathetic two-legged cub in the forest, she felt nothing. But then something made her stop. She thought she had seen something on his forehead. Something oddly familiar. Something painfully familiar. So she decided to take a closer look.

There were always legends passed around them dragons, that if one of them had ever died at the hands of another species, they would get reborn into that species. Primrose never really believed in any of that nonsense, but she was a firm believer now that the living, walking proof of their truth was with her.

That mark upon the boy's forehead was the first giveaway. Then she began to see. She saw Vesper behind Dipper's eyes. She heard him in Dipper's voice. The two-legged creature even behaved like the blue dragon did. Fast, agile, yet weak in muscle strength and a felt constant need to prove himself. As Primrose spent more time with the boy, she became more and more sure, but now she was absolutely certain. Vesper was Dipper.

Reborn into the species that caused his demise.

Primrose had no idea how to feel about it. Part of her heart lifted in happiness that Vesper's spirit managed to receive a second chance at the life he was denied, but the other part fell deep, deep below the ground.

Dipper didn't remember her, or anything from his dragon past. Primrose had tried and tried again to make him remember who he used to be, or at least who she was to him, but he didn't recognise her. Not one bit. Vesper was given another chance, but he didn't remember who he was- he had started from scratch.

But would the constellation creature be given a third chance?

Dipper was fatally wounded, and although his companion had done everything he could in a desperate attempt to save him, he was dying.

Primrose couldn't loose him a second time!

What was she supposed to do? She was sat upon that wretched hill, asking the stars for help while the two that she liked to think she had adopted slept in her cave. Soundly? Not one bit. One was hanging between life and death, not committing to either, the second had cried himself to sleep.

Primrose huffed, a ring of smoke blowing out of her nostrils accompanied by a few glowing embers, and jumped down from her place atop the small hill. Her broken leg wailed, but the sharp pain died down soon after, the leg still holding straight thanks to that makeshift splint. It would take about a week for her leg to fully heal, but that was not their biggest problem as of now.

Once again Primrose pushed through the lichen, dim lights of the dying cinders dancing creepily over the cave. She snorted and sent another ball of flame towards the fireplace, causing it to burst to life once more. The golden creature winced at the sudden heat, but didn't wake. Primrose knew his pain. She just hoped he wouldn't have to suffer for ever after like she did.

She gave him a tender lick to the cheek, trying to ease off his worry, though not succeeding one bit. How could she take away someone's fear when she herself was infested with it?

Bill Cipher... that was his name, wasn't it? Primrose had heard his name in the tales the elders told. He was a being of power, wasn't he? She didn't quite remember, but what she did remember was that Bill Cipher was always the antagonist, pulling out deer teeth and manipulating animals to insanity in their own native tongues.

Primrose remembered how unfeeling and angry he was at the beginning of their journey, but now... what became of him?

She felt sorry for him.

* * *

Blood! Blood! Death! Death! It was blood! The gunshot! Gunshot! It was a loud gunshot that caused to leak blood! Blood! Red blood as scarlet as fire! Fire! There was fire!

Sign of the devil! Sign of the devil! It was his fault! His fault alone! That yellow triangle with his singe eye! That tall boy with his strange golden eyes! It was his fault! All his fault! His fault!

Danger! Danger! Danger! Run! Wherever you are! Run for your life! Run like you've never ran before! Get free! Get free from whatever danger there is! Quickly! Hastily! Get out of there!

 _Mabel was going insane._

You are! You are! Fight it! Fight! You must fight! Fight! Flee! Now flee! Flee!

Don't freeze! Don't freeze! Flee! Run! Get out of there! Move!

Smell that air! Smoke! Fire! Gunfire! Bullet! Blood! Sign of the devil! Sign of the devil! Fire! Gunfire! Gunfire! Blood!

Shot through the heart! Through the heart I'm telling you! Bang! Boom! There was a gunshot! One is all it took! One is all it takes! His heart is dying! Dying! Dead! Dead! Dying! Beating! Beat! Beat! Beat!

He's going to die! Die! Dying! Die! Dead!

Help him! Whatever it takes! Hide! Hide! Save them! Move! Move! Move! Move!

Do whatever it takes! Whatever it takes!

 _Mabel was talking to herself._

He's with him! Whoever she is, she's with him too! They're with him! With him! Him!

He took my brother away! Took my brother away! Sign of the devil! His fault! All his fault!

It's my fault! My fault! My fault alone! I set him free! He's free because of me! I shook his hand! Shook his hand! Set him free! Free! Free!

Run! Fly! Run! Fly! Flee! Don't freeze! Move!

 _Mabel was panicking._

My brother is hurt! My brother is hurt! He's hurt! He's going to die! Die! Die! Dying! Die! I can feel it! He got shot! Shooting! Shot! Gunshot! Gunfire! Fire! He's bleeding! Bleeding! Blood! Blood! Blood as red as poppy petals! Red! Scarlet! Ruby red! It's so red! Blood red! Blood! Bloody red! Blood! Bleeding! Blood! He's hurt! He's bleeding! He's loosing blood!

There's a bullet through his heart! Take it out! Out! Take it out now! Now! Take it out now! Out! Out! Out! It needs to be taken out! Get it out!

Bleed! Bleed! Blood! Bleed! Sign of the devil! Sign of the devil! Death! Death! It was the gunshot that caused the wound to bleed! It caused the wound to bleed! It caused the heart to bleed!

He's limp! Limp! Lifeless! Motionless! Nothing but a bloody, tattered mess! Unconscious! Passed out! Coma! He's in a coma! Coma! Coma! Dying! Death! Death! Death! Death! He is going to die! Die! Die!

Take the bullet out of his heart! The bullet! Out of his heart! It needs to be taken out of his heart! Now! Now! Take it out now!

Blood! Red! Blood! Red! Blood! Red! Blood!

This was his demise! This was my demise! One of them was going to die! And it was the other's fault! The other's fault alone! Guilt! Lump of guilt! Guilt! Shame! Blame! The blame is my own! My own! My own alone! It's my fault he's out there! It's my fault is he going to die! It's my fault he's going to die out there!

Pant! Pant! Pant! Breathe! Breath! Breathe! Gasp for air! Air! Oxygen! Get it! Breathe! He's running out of breathing space!

I don't care who it is! Who it is at all! Someone! Come help him! Whoever it is! Help my brother!

 _Mabel could see two golden eyes in the dark._

Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!

Help! Help him! Help! Him! Help him survive!

 _Mabel was crying._

Save him...

...

Save him.

...

...

Save him!

...

...

...

...

...

SAVE HIM!

...

...

...

...

...please...

* * *

Birdsong? Was that birdsong? It was birdsong, indeed. The sound you would hear at early morning, fast chirping and singing of the songbirds in the dense canopy of trees.

Dipper winced at the sound, and squinted at the sunlight shining at his face.

Wait... sunlight? Or was it firelight like it was on that horrific battlefield? Where was he? So Dipper slowly opened his eyes, his vision blurry, but clearing with every blink. A stone ceiling was above his head.

So it was just a dream. He was still in those dungeons wasn't he? Where was the sky? Or was the sky rimmed with jagged rocks? The cackling of fire could be heard close to him, so that's probably where the light came from. Where was Bill? Where was Primrose? Were they hurt? Were they alright? Were they alive?

All Dipper could do was turn his head, so he did. His eyes set on a cave entrance, where the light seeped from past the hanging lichen-curtains. For a while he blinked to adjust his eyes to the light, before he attempted to lift his head from the soft ground. His hand felt around next to him, and he found soft moss and feathers brush against his fingertips. Where was he?

Then Dipper began to struggle. He tried with all his might to pick himself up onto his feet, but all he managed to do was lift himself only slightly off the ground before exhaustion hit him and he was forced to lay down again. It was like his heart would not handle the movement. What happened to him?

So Dipper furrowed his brow, trying his best to remember all the events before his memory had cut off. He remembered the awful dungeons and the horrible feeling of lurking danger. He remembered the heat of battle and urge to flee, how he had fought desperately for his life as if he'd loose it at any moment. The bright white light of the cursed chain... the burn of dragonfire. What else did he remember? The gunshot... gunshot... his memories were inexistent past that point. Oh no...

So he was dead. Shot. He left everyone behind, just like that. How could he? How dare he? Bill and Primrose were still fighting when he last saw them... and he just went and left them behind. He left behind his sister when she was waiting eagerly for his return. How could he leave Mabel? How could he leave Primrose? How could he leave Bill?

His hand ran over his own chest, and he could feel a bump of a bandage underneath his shirt. A bullet-hole ran over his fingertips, and Dipper examined it with his touch. The bullet-hole was right over his heart, only confirming Dipper's theory that he had died.

But then a rustle broke the unsettling quietness. Dropping pawsteps on hard stone floor.

 _Pad, pad, pad, scrrrraape_

And again.

 _Pad, pad, pad, scrrrraape_

Dipper had a sudden flash of memory. Primrose had a broken hind leg... and she had limped even after he had put the splint on. Her back talons had scraped noisily on the floor whenever the broken leg moved.

The boy's head moved quickly in sudden hope, and saw exactly what he had been hoping for.

That large dragoness the colour of a really late sunset was slowly padding at the back of the cave, back and forth as if she was trying to walk off a certain uncertainty in her heart. There was no happiness in those green eyes of hers, and her wings were hanging limply by her sides, devoid of all hope. She looked as if someone had just died.

Finally Dipper found his own voice in his throat, and hesitated before: "Primrose?"

Like a cobra, Primrose's head snapped towards Dipper when he said her name. For that moment her face said it all. Dipper had never seen anyone express that much emotion before- it looked unreal, like something from an animation.

Before Dipper knew it, the huge dragoness pressed her ear to his chest, and he could do nothing but watch as her mouth opened slightly to breathe. Her scaly lip quivered, and she turned to hide her diamond forehead in Dipper's chest. Once again her body started to give irregular heaves, and the rest of the dragon flopped helplessly on the floor.

Dipper called her name, but stopped once he felt the wetness through his t-shirt.

Primrose was crying.

Dipper said her name again, and the dragon looked up at him. Those reptilian eyes were red at the edges, flooded over with water. But she looked beyond happy. It was a face Dipper had only seen on Stan's face after his great uncle found out that the twins were safe. It was a look of relief, like a helping hand taking an unbearable amount of pain off her shoulders.

"Are we alive?" was the first question he asked her. Her reply was a happy owl-like cry, and her forked tongue licked over his face like a happy dog's. All of Dipper's doubts were suddenly washed away. "We're alive! We're okay!"

With a heave, Primrose helped Dipper sit up despite his faulty heart. Dipper's wakening seemed to fill her with strength she didn't know she had. Next thing Dipper knew was that Primrose was passing him a wad of wet moss. He took it gratefully and drank the water it held. It was cool and freshening, easing off the hoarseness of Dipper's dry throat. It was the best water Dipper had ever drank, even though it faintly tasted of earth and very mossy indeed.

When Dipper was done drinking, Primrose offered him a limp, burnt piece of meat. It was still warm from dragonfire. He thanked her for her offering and dug in without hesitation. He hadn't been aware of how hungry he was- his stomach must've dried to the back of his spine. Now that he was finally feeding it again it gave a happy grumble and soon Dipper was asking for a second helping, which Primrose was more than glad to hand him.

"What happened?" he asked once he had swallowed a mouthful of food. "Where's Bill?"

With a huff and a snort, Primrose sat down and pointed to the left with her wing. Dipper's eyes followed her point, and he saw the limp figure of a sleeping boy in the cave shadows. He was faced away from them, golden hair sprawled all over the floor with a chest heaving up and down in somewhat unrhythmic breaths.

Instantly Dipper was hit with a pang of worry. It was no secret that Bill had not been sleeping well throughout their journey, waking up in the middle of the night because of sickness or something else. More than once Dipper had seen first-hand how Bill had stirred in his sleep, but this time it was somehow even more worrying.

"Is Bill okay?"

Primrose seemed to hesitate before shaking her head. Her two forepaws raised as she started to try and communicate through really bad dragon charades. Though Dipper did not understand some of what his guide was trying to tell him, he did guess most parts.

"So you two managed to escape, and now we're at your place," Dipper summarised, and Primrose confirmed with a nod.

What she signalled next caught Dipper entirely off-guard. "What do you mean Bill freaked out? He didn't hurt you did he?"

Bill's... 'freak-outs' hadn't gone smoothly in the past, as far as Dipper knew. There was that incident where he nearly murdered Dipper in cold blood on their journey- twice. And even further back, when he casually tried to destroy the entire dimension. But thankfully Primrose shook her great head. Was it just him, or did Primrose look entirely different now? She was still the same dragon, but something about her had changed completely- Dipper couldn't put his finger on what.

Primrose had to remind Dipper to continue eating before she explained more thoroughly. It did take Dipper a few guesses to get what her waving paws and animated expressions were trying to tell him. "So you mean Bill freaked out when I..."

He couldn't believe it, yet at the same time there was no lie in Primrose's animal voice. It seemed impossible that Bill would react in such a way. If what Primrose said about Bill's sudden out-of-character reaction was true, Dipper wondered if he ever even knew Bill at all. Maybe it was all just a trick? Bill did say that if he died, Bill would die along with him. Yeah... that was probably it.

Yet Dipper still felt concerned for him. "Are you sure he'll be alright? Does he still have his food poisoning?" It did occur to him that it was foolish to feel sympathy for a creature that had tried to kill him on more than one occasion, and that it was Bill freaking Cipher that he was worrying over, but still. Bill was his companion through and through, just as equally as Primrose was- if not, even more.

As Dipper finished his food, Primrose curled around him like a huge domestic cat, and lay down so that Dipper could lean against her scaled flank. The way the light caught her face was somehow familiar, and Dipper suddenly remembered the Mirror of Jaddrycryn back in those dangerous tunnels. The blue dragon that had appeared instead of his own reflection had the same crooked black horns and shape of snout as Primrose did, and not to mention that the eyes were also almost exactly identical.

"Primrose... I need to talk to you," Dipper decided. It would be difficult to ask Primrose about his past life, since it only occurred to him now that in order for him to be a human being, the dragon in the mirror would need to have died. And if he knew anything about the approach Primrose had towards him... it was fairly easy to guess that Primrose did not take that blue dragon's death lightly. "Down in those dungeons Bill found a mirror that showed what you were in your past life."

Instantly Primrose was intrigued. An elephant-like 'doh' sound came from her, and she waited for Dipper to continue speaking.

"Well, it did seem to do its job properly, since it did show Bill back when he was still a floating dorito. But with me, it showed a blue dragon."

All Primrose did was give him a blank stare.

"And before, you recognised my birthmark, the Big Dipper constellation. That blue dragon also had that same mark upon his forehead. I see the way you look at me, as if you're trying to see someone else in me." Dipper's voice faltered a little when her eyes left his, but he forced himself to keep speaking, even though he looked down at the ground. "And when you brought that stag, you were trying to make me recognise the dragon ways of living. You knew I was a reincarnation. That blue dragon was me."

He looked up to Primrose, but the dragoness would not look at him. Her expression of relieved euphoria had melted into grieving confusion, and she found a spider walking up the wall more interesting to look at.

The short silence between them was awful, so Dipper carried on swiftly. "I was a dragon in my past life. And you recognised my birthmark." He touched his hand to his forehead, feeling the constellation engraved into his skin. "You know who I used to be, don't you?"

Asking that question seemed wrong. That tortured gaze Primrose looked at Dipper with was unsettling to a point of creepy. Sometimes Dipper wondered if she wanted someone else to stand in his place. But asking that question would hopefully give him the answers he needed.

And thankfully it did. Primrose had given a curt nod with her head. Once again that unbearable tic of longing was back in her eyes and in her silence. She let her wings sink as she folded one talon over another. She was ready to answer Dipper's questions. It was clear that she felt she owed him at least that much.

So Dipper asked another question. "What was my name?"

Primrose hesitated, then lifted a single black talon and began to pull it across the dirt. The lines were wobbly and untidy, but still readable. Primrose had written a single word in the earth.

 _Vesper_.

"Certainly better than Dipper," the boy laughed dryly. He needed Primrose's explanation to shed light on the dark, just like information was eventually cast on the mysteries of Gravity Falls. He had the key to unlocking the truth about himself, and maybe the answer to why he was so drawn to the supernatural more than anything else.

"What was I like?"

This time Primrose pointed her talon at Dipper's chest.

"Right. I was the same person." For some reason Dipper was slightly disappointed. He had imagined his dragon self as a badass firebreather, just like Primrose proved to be; able to set the forest alight with a single fiery breath or cause a tsunami with one thrash of a powerful tail. But Primrose started to babble in her strange voice, and Dipper could only imagine what she was saying. How fast he was, how graceful he had been in flight and in running, that despite being small and awkward and anxious, he was still a valuable beast of the forest.

Yet there was still something nagging at the back of Dipper's mind. One secret still was hidden from him, the answer to which he needed to know.

Dipper decided to ask his final question. "Primrose, who are you to me?"

He could feel a jolt go through Primrose's entire body. The long ears flattened against her head, and smoke billowed out of her nostrils. There was no sound coming from her, and for a moment she stayed absolutely still, not even the slightest hint of movement. It was as if Dipper's question had paralysed her from the horns to the tip of the tail.

"You don't have to answer if you don't-" Dipper started, but Primrose had begun to move again.

With a lash of her mighty tail, she swept dirt and dust over Vesper's name. She lifted a single glistening black talon and began to drag it over the earth.

Dipper's breath caught in his throat. No, it couldn't be.

"I'm... I'm so sorry," he apologised automatically. "I didn't know." His eyes had began to sting, the palm of his hand pressed up to his mouth. "I'm so, so sorry."

The dragoness gave him a sad look. Her nose was scaly and soft as she touched it to his forehead. Dipper reached into his own mind, trying to find any familiarity to her gentle touch, but found none. Try as he might, he did not remember any such events, and it made him feel even worse. Up until now Primrose was just his guide, the leader from the shadows- but in reality she was much, much more than that.

"I'm sorry I don't remember anything," he whimpered. He hesitated greatly before pressing himself to the crook of Primrose's wing, searching for forgiveness. He remembered when Primrose had dragged the stag back to the camp in a desperate attempt to make Dipper remember, but all that was left of his dragon memories was just an empty, hollow hole.

A long, sad purr vibrated from Primrose, perhaps of peace that Dipper finally knew the truth, even if it meant nothing at all. It was still a calming piece of mind, but still Dipper felt guilty. His ignorance was the reason Primrose was tortured. His presence was like salt on an open wound. He was still Vesper, still the same entity with the same personality and strengths and weaknesses, but without any of his memories.

Dipper hugged the dragoness tightly, pressing his face to her flank- perhaps like he'd done while he still lived as a dragon. Her purring somewhat comforted him, and Dipper wanted to believe that it was because he recognised her- but he knew deep down inside that it was because she was his guide, the light in the darkness. Somehow that made it even worse.

Once again Dipper lifted his head and read the two words Primrose had scribbled on the floor. He didn't know what to think of it at all, but there it was- written by Primrose's own paw.

"Who are you to me?" Dipper had asked. He had gotten his answer. It was there, spelled out in the mud- letter by letter.

 _Your Mother._

But perhaps that subconscious knowledge of blood relatives, even after reincarnation, was the thing that had drove Dipper to help Primrose out of that hunter trap in the first place. Something had connected him with Primrose right from day one, and now he knew what.

Just what did it mean now?

However through all this, Primrose seemed finally happy. She gave Dipper a reassuring lick under his hat, and her sharp-toothed smile was as warm as a hot summer's day. A soft coo came from her, one that she had never made before.

And at that something stirred in the back of Dipper's mind, something reigniting to that loving smile and that specific sound. It was less than an undiscovered experience, a mere shadow of a memory, yet it was littered with nostalgic familiarity.

"It's okay? It's okay."

It was okay. And this time it was Dipper who touched his forehead marking to hers, knowing that as a son he should greet his mother with utmost respect. It was the little things Dipper subconsciously remembered; like how to interact with beasts of the forest, how to fight weaponless and of course, how to recognise home- whether it be former or current.

Perhaps Vesper's memories were not completely gone after all.

A groan echoed around the cave, and the attention was shifted away to the sleeping ex-triangle. He had started to stir, waking up with the usual tame noise of displeasement as he always did. At first he propped himself onto an elbow and he looked around. "Crescent Moon? Where are you?" he called out for Primrose like a lost child. Primrose could hardly hold back her excitement as she crowed to him. Bill turned around to look at them.

Dipper forced himself to hold the demon-boy's gaze, made himself stare into that terrifying slitted eye. But somehow, just somehow, at Dipper's sight, his pupil had widened into convex like a glittering black onyx. Never before Dipper had seen Bill's eye in a state like this. It was unnatural for such a heartless monster to show so much emotion, but there it was, right there on Bill's face.

He still wore that makeshift red bandage diagonally across his face, covering that cut-out eye of his. But from what Dipper could see was that the wound was no longer bleeding, and that offered at least some sort of relief.

"You're alive?" Bill's voice was barely a whisper, yet it seemed to echo all around so that it came from everywhere and nowhere.

Dipper shrugged and spread his hands in a seemingly hopeless gesture. "I think so."

Bill breathed an emotionless sigh, and heaved himself up to his feet. His steps towards them were hesitant, but at the same time willing.

Before Dipper knew it, Bill was on his knees beside him, clutching onto him in a breathtaking hug as if Dipper was the last piece of warmth in the universe. Dipper just froze, mind refusing to work.

"You're heart's beating," Bill said as if this were any normal circumstances, yet at the same time he seemed... relieved.

"Ummm... Bill what's gotten into you?" Dipper risked asking, still trying to decide whether this was a bizarre coma hallucination or completely legit. It was veering towards the former, but Dipper wasn't too sure. He could feel Bill's heart beating so rapidly that it might've been a runaway train.

But Bill completely disregarded his question. "If you ever die at my hands I will find a way to bring you back and kill you myself, do you hear that Dipper Pines?" His breaths got shorter and more rapid, almost like the panting of a dog. "Do you hear that?" he repeated a little harsher when Dipper didn't reply.

"Uh... yeah."

"Good." And at that word Bill let out a huge sob.

If this hadn't been happening right before him, Dipper would never believe that of all people Bill Cipher was behaving like this. It wasn't right... it wasn't natural. To Dipper, a monster like Bill shouldn't be glowing with happiness like he was now. But then what was he?

A few moments passed before Dipper even dared to return the favour, awkwardly leaning into the demon-boy with possibly the most hesitation in his little life. But despite his anxiety, his mouth moved on its own.

"I'm glad you're alive too."

For some reason Dipper found himself sighing with relief, somehow more at ease now. Why was he okay with this? he kept asking himself, thinking about breaking apart the awkward exchange. This was Bill, the awful dream demon that Dipper had so many hostile interactions with. This was a villain, a monster, a threat.

Yet now, Bill was more subdued than anyone ever imagined him being. A tamed beast of the forest- a creature that Dipper had thought that didn't exist.

What Bill said next Dipper would never forget.

"Listen carefully, Pine Tree, because I'm only saying this once. I will protect and guide and lead and love you. I will live and fight and bleed and die for you."

Never before had Bill sounded so serious. Dipper desperately searched for a 'sike! fooled you!' hint in his voice, but found none. He couldn't bring himself up to look his companion in the face, so instead he tightened the hug.

"You're kidding, right? The god of destruction would never say such things and-"

"Shush kid," Bill shut him up with a harsh bark. "Can't you see what I'm getting at here? Yeesh. I've just sworn you an oath, and you dare think it's a joke?"

"I have every reason to do so."

Bill made a strange growling noise, but then pressed his face into Dipper's shoulder. "An oath goes bone-deep. Nobody can take back an oath, not even me. So stop being so damn blind!" At that last word, Bill's voice went around eighty pitches deeper into a familiarly haunting death-tone. However it was not the same kind of threatening. Instead it sounded rather sad.

It was a while before the silence was broken again.

"Kinda ironic for a half-blind to call me blind," Dipper said eventually. "But it may take me a while to process what the hell you just said to me. It's not everyday that the world-eating dream demon swears an oath of eternal loyalty to me, you know."

"Is this supposed to be your lame response?" Bill snapped, not knowing how to react. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

"How am I to know?" Dipper shrugged. "Wow, I've never thought this would happen. Not at all."

It was a lot to take in, so much so that Dipper felt the need to lay down and contemplate his entire life and the universe and everything. He looked to his mother for comfort and any sort of advice, but all she gave him was that pathetically adorable smile. "Grrawwll~" Primrose purred happily, pushing her own long face into the hug. She seemed now beyond happy, unable to hold back the deep laughing-like noise in her throat. Again that strange noise was so familiar that Dipper recognised it instantly, and to his own surprise he too began laughing. Dipper wrapped a single arm around Primrose's thick neck, pulling her closer.

Though it took him a while to understand what was going on, Bill too joined in. It wasn't the evil, mocking laughter of utter insanity that everyone heard from him so often, but instead a pure, innocent laugh of someone who was truly happy.

It was the first time Bill's laugh was so pleasant to hear, without the curse of horror or psychopathy tainting it. There were tears at his one working eye as he pulled away from Dipper to subside into Primrose's bulky shoulder.

And anything had been passing outside, the three wouldn't've known. They were safe in Primrose's home, the cave where no threat could find them. Laughter echoed around, so that it felt like the whole world was laughing along with them.

Their world had been burned down many times, but the ashes always seemed to house a stronger phoenix. For that moment, nothing else mattered.

Yet their journey was far from over. Gravity Falls was still waiting.


	12. Chapter 12: Dragonsong

Welcome back to this story guys! I feel like I owe you guys a HUGE apology after not uploading this story for a few months. I know how annoying that can be. But I'm back now, but my uploading schedule is all over the place right now so I must apologise for that too.

On the bright side did you know that turkeys can actually blush? There's your fun fact of the day!

* * *

Mabel's state had only gotten worse. That incident with the sudden bloodstain and the deaf gunshot had been the click.

Now Mabel was in Dipper's bed, frustrated that it barely smelt of him anymore now that she spent most of her time entangled in his duvet. It smelt of her nightmares now, and Waddles. Ford's laboratory also became unbearable without Dipper explaining what everything all while coming up with a few of his own theories.

Mabel had gotten to the point of even wearing one of Dipper's red t-shirts.

Her mouth was moving, though most of her words were silent even though an occasional mumble could be heard. Her mind usually wandered, but now she couldn't think of anything else but of that day when she set Bill Cipher free.

Her eye twitched when she heard a knock at the door. She felt no need to answer, so she just quietly whispered a ramble before she huddled her knees together closer.

"Uh kid? Are you sure you're alright?" Stan's grumbling voice made Mabel raise her eyes to his face as he let himself into the room.

"Of course I'm alright," Mabel answered. Even she realised how different her voice was now. It had gotten deeper and lost some of its cracking-like quirk.

Stan shook his head, not buying any of what Mabel tried to sell. "I'm not asking about your physical health for hell's sake. Speak to me, maybe you can get some of that weight off your shoulders?"

Mabel almost hissed at him. "I don't think that will help Dipper."

Stan sighed, for a moment looking twice his age. "Sweetie, he said that he was making his way home, and that he's alive and well and-" Stan noticed the glint shining in Mabel's eyes, and he was downright horrified. "I swear Mabel if you're thinking about suicide I can tell you now that you're no good to your brother dead."

"I was never any good to him alive either," replied the girl. That was all she said.

Stn fell silent in shock, and for a moment the room was so quiet you could hear a feather drop onto the carpet.

"You still have your connection though," Stan tried, losing some of his hope when Mabel exposed her throat to look at the ceiling. "Did you have any dreams telling you where your brother might be?"

Mabel answered instantly. "My connection is dead. The dreams are gone and I can't feel his feelings anymore. I think he got sick of feeling me being scared- since he has his own things to be scared about."

"You're looking too much into it," Stan tried to reason. "If you ask me, that connection has been bad for you. It's driven you insane Mabel, for hell's sake. You're not yourself anymore."

Mabel only sighed, hoping Stan would take the screaming hints and leave.

But Stan didn't. He ignored it, or didn't notice, or both. Either way, he kept talking. "Dipper said he was coming back. He told you so through the telephone. If he finds you like this, or worse, what will he think?"

For the first time Mabel looked Stan in the face. "Why should he think of me in any good way? He gives, and I take- I'm a parasite, that's all."

"Mabel you're not a parasite-"

"Yes I am," Mabel snapped. "I wouldn't be surprised if me and Dipper turned out like you and Great Uncle Ford."

Another cold chill went down Stan's spine. The worst part was that Mabel wasn't completely wrong. He had seen first hand how Mabel had thrown Dipper aside for some random guy when he not only needed her, but also helped her with the puppet show. She was after all the main reason that caused Dipper to get hurt by Bill the first time.

Such is fate that she was the only reason why he fell prey to the demon the second time.

Stan hesitated, lost for things to say. What _could_ he say to lift Mabel's spirit?

He wasn't great at comforting other people, not to mention such broken people. What could possibly Mabel feel after the loss of a sibling? Stan didn't know what that felt like... Hold on, yes, he did know what losing a twin sibling.

"Whatever you have or haven't done Mabel, Dipper still loves you," Stan said. He placed a gentle hand on Mabel's quivering shoulder.

Mabel opened her mouth to object, but Stan didn't even let her start. "Don't you dare say that he doesn't. If he didn't love you, he would've called."

His niece hugged him. She was still so small compared to him. "You promise Dipper will be back?"

Stan sighed. "I'm sure he will be."

* * *

After the storm the clouds had parted, the sun began to shine against a clear blue sky. Beams of light seeped through the morning canopy, every single spiderweb shining silver with dew, the air so fresh to breathe in.

This was the morning the trio set out to continue their journey, after a week and a bit of recovery. Now with nothing in their way- no sickness, no hunger, no enemies- they travelled somewhat faster.

Primrose had left the two boys alone to hunt, this time trusting them enough to trek themselves at least some of the way. Before, silence would hang between them when the boys were alone, but now it was scared away by chatter.

"Seriously? Shooting Star likes that stuff?" Bill was asking, raising a confused eyebrow. He was looking down slightly at Dipper beside him, since he was still at least a head taller.

Dipper nodded his head. "I know, right? That's not how werewolves and vampires work for heck's sake. Vampires don't sparkle!"

"You know that vampires use their sexiness to lure and kill women?"

"Ford wrote about that in his journals, though he wrote 'charm'."

Bill gave Dipper an impressed nod. "You still know those journals by heart even though I've burned them all?"

"You can read minds, possess people and invade dreams, but you can't erase people's memories." Dipper's mouth curled into a proud smile, showing off his slightly squint teeth. "You've revealed a lot about yourself, don't pretend you're surprised."

Bill only laughed. "I guess we're both even then."

They travelled along the uneven terrain, sometimes jogging downhill or leaping over gorges, eventually coming to a fallen tree, making a clean bridge across the overflowing creek. The water was so crystal clear that they could see the tiny fish swimming around, as well as right down to the bottom. They took a break to drink, before Dipper lead the way across the trunk.

Or he would've, if something didn't tap him- ever so gently- on the right shoulder. It was enough to unbalance him and send him crashing into the cold water.

Dipper emerged, shaking the droplets of sparkling water from his hair, only to hear that annoying laughter.

"Asshole," he spat at Bill, though he found it hard to hold a genuine grudge. Bill didn't seem to care either way, overreacting as if his little practical joke was the funniest thing in the world. "Great," Dipper mumbled to himself sarcastically as he stood to his feet. The water only reached up to his waist, and though movement was slow, it was still possible. So Dipper violently jerked himself back, and the chain sprung to life. It wasn't much, but the little movement was enough to topple over the standing demon-boy. He angled his face away when the splash came, now the one laughing.

* * *

"Oh stop complaining, the sun will dry you soon enough."

The two came out of the trees into a clearing of heather and grass, the opposite line of trees was well over the horizon. And there were deer close by, a whole herd of them, feeding on the long plants without paying any attention to the newcomers. Dipper glanced in Bill's direction, wondering what he would do. It was common knowledge that Bill didn't get along well with humankind, Dipper being the exception, but what about animals? (Again Primrose was an exception).

"What are you looking at me for?" Bill noticed Dipper's glare.

Dipper shrugged. "Just wondering what you'll do now that there are things bigger than us here."

Bill gave Dipper a stupid look. "What do want me to do with them? Eat them?"

"I can't tell if you're joking or not," replied Dipper, giving Bill a shit-eating grin whilst avoiding the swipe. Bill's angry noise almost resembled the terrified whinnies of the deer that spotted them, just as a massive shadow fell over the clearing. The deer dashed into the safety of the trees, a wind picking up that blew Dipper's hat right off his head.

The roar of arrival was familiar, as were the beat of wings. The massive bat-like figure blotted out the sun like a massive lunar eclipse as it descended out of the sky. A normal human being would scream and run, for this sight would've been pretty terrifying, though Dipper and Bill did not.

"There you are you oversized snake," Bill greeted her in his usual fashion as the dragoness landed with a thud. The sunlight made her look bejewelled, more so than usual. Her fangs stretched into a smile, from which dangled two large pieces of meat, already cooked- or rather slightly burnt- by dragonfire.

The boys thanked the dragon for the meal and they were swiftly on their way again.

"How much longer is it to the train station?" Dipper asked once he'd finished his portion. The sun above kept climbing up the sky, though nowhere near its highest point yet.

For an answer Primrose held up four talons, a quiet purr vibrating in her throat.

"Four weeks?"

But Primrose was shaking her head, signalling for a lower number. Dipper glanced at Bill shortly. "Four days?" Primrose shook her head again. "Four hours?" And Primrose nodded her head.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Bill took a few steps away before looking over his shoulder back at them. "It's only a four-hour trek, and all things considered it's nothing to what we've done over." His encouraging smile was almost as bright as the sun itself. "Come on."

Dipper picked up his pace to walk beside by him again, a gust of wind whooshed past them, once again pulling Dipper's hat off his head. As he reached to pick it up, he could hear Bill whoop and cheer at the dragon who soared so high her wings seemed to brush the very sun itself. He cheered too, for even a kid who had many encounters with the supernatural a flying dragon was quite a sight. The dragon would fly above them like a guardian angel, so far up she looked like a glimmering kestrel. Her shadow fell over the two boys, so from a bird's eye view it truly looked like the boys themselves were sharing a pair of wings.

Almost instinctively Dipper began to pick up his pace, and the little prick from the chain made Bill follow. "What the heck are you doing?" he asked quickly, caught of guard by the prod as if he were a horse receiving a reminder from a whip.

"Come on then, we can out-run her," Dipper said cheerfully, going from speed-walking to a slow jog. "Unless you're too slow to catch up."

"Alright, you asked for it."

Bill was no way as fast as Dipper was, but soon they left the wings of shadow behind- that began to chase them.

* * *

The sun was well past its highest point when the forest ended. The trio watched from the cover of the plants, silent and still.

The place Primrose had lead them to resembled a long-forgotten town from a fairytale, yet it was absolutely buzzing with life. The train station was built of granite, dark and red and still holding up, the roof covered in neat rows of slate. A huge analogue clock was hung over the open doorway inside, its thin iron hands pointing out the time of precisely thirty three minutes past one o'clock. The building was smaller than most, and behind it could be seen the rooftops of the townhouses. A huge black train stood idly at once side. There were people on the single platform, and not just one or two- Dipper counted them himself- there were as much as fifty-one people waiting on that platform. And all that was separating them from him was the double set of railway tracks.

It was weird seeing normal human beings again, and Dipper had to fight the urge to let out a 'woah' of awe, reminding himself that humans were _not_ supernatural beings and that he was one himself in fact. But it's been so long...

"Is this it?" Bill pointed to the station, and Primrose nodded her head in agreement. She eyed the humans suspiciously, which was completely understandable all things considered. Dipper didn't blame her.

And then something caught his eye. This time it was worth gasping.

There were men being marched out of the forest not too far from where they were hidden, and the people on the platform looked up from whatever they were doing to gawp at the scene.

Some of the men were wearing the well-known black uniforms that the government agents had worn- those eagle-symbols were all too familiar to Dipper at this point, and they were armed. Heavily.

And the others, Dipper recognised fairly quickly. Those men in the dungeons...

"Look at that!" Dipper elbowed Bill in the ribs and pointed. "It's them! It's those-"

"Creepy bastards," Bill hissed under his breath, and Primrose only growled.

The said 'creepy bastards' were unarmed like the government guys, hands placed on their heads as they marched across the tracks and into the black train that was standing stationary on the line furthest from the hidden three.

And when they were all inside the black train, it sped off into the distance, never to be seen again.

"They're gone?" Dipper whispered, hardly able to believe it. "They're really gone?" He couldn't help but punch the air with his fist in glee. "Ha! Ha! Yes! Comeuppance!"

"I seriously hope those guys get lifetime in prison, or the death-sentence," Bill snapped, still agitated way more than he should be. "I hope they all rot in hell."

During normal circumstances Dipper would've told him to calm down, but now he totally agreed with him.

And the people on the platform? They just lowered their heads again with whatever they were doing, not even questioning it. They seemed exactly opposite of what 'normal' people were.

Then it hit Dipper.

"Ohhh man, we don't have any money!" he exclaimed suddenly. "How will we get on the train with no money? If we can't pay for tickets then we can't board the train and we can't get to Gravity Falls and-"

The soft dragon purr cut across him, and Dipper instantly shut up. Primrose had pushed past Bill to stand at Dipper's side. How exactly she was managing to stay hidden was a mystery. Her wing pointed to the far left, where the black train used to stand. Now behind it was visible the slightly less intimidating cargo-train, the red paint peeling off the wooden traincars, where workers were busy loading up cardboard boxes and the like.

" _That's_ our ride?" Bill moaned. "Ugh, I was seriously hoping we'd get first-class seats, and I'd get to actually try your stereotypically British tea and biscuits and-"

"Man shut the hell up," Dipper barked at him. "At least we won't have to pay for the ride and we won't get kicked off."

Bill groaned.

"So when does that train leave?" Dipper turned to Primrose, ignoring Bill. The dragoness tilted her head- the signal to follow her. It was one of the many signals that basically became words, and naturally Bill and Dipper followed her without question. Just like they had ever since they met her.

They walked just behind the edge of the trees, along the tracks and along the cargo train. Right up to the last car, where the cargo was already loaded and all the workers were at the front of the train. Primrose was first to slither out of the cover of the forest. Bill followed next, yet Dipper was slightly hesitant. They'd spent all this time in this forest and now it was time to leave? Now it was clear why it was so nostalgic and familiar, and suddenly Dipper didn't want to leave.

"Hey, Pine Tree! Aren't you coming?"

"I'm coming," Dipper called back, and with a deep breath took his first step out of that forest.

Stepping on the smooth ground of the tracks was somehow unfamiliar, and Dipper tried very hard not to cringe. He almost bounced about the ground to make his way to his two companions. Primrose was already on her hind legs, using all her dragon-y strength to force open the sliding door of the traincar. Inside were boxes stacked upon boxes, with not much room but enough for the three of them nonetheless.

"Great! Now we have our ride back to Gravity!" Bill cheered, complaints about not getting first-class apparently forgotten. He jumped effortlessly up onto the car and sat down cross-legged and expectant. "Well? What are you waiting for? Hop on!"

Dipper sighed, glancing back over his shoulder to look at the forest again. Would he ever see it again? His former mother nudged him forward with her snout, giving him a reassuring nod.

It felt like leaving something significant behind, and Dipper had to actually focus to clamber onto the wagon. And again sitting on the wooden floor was strange and alien- smoother than the uneven earth and cold rocks. He ran his hand over the wood- how long has it been?

"Move over, make some room for the dragon." Bill's voice snapped Dipper from his musings. The two boys moved to the side in unison, however the dragoness didn't hop on to join them. Instead, she hung her head.

"Primrose?" Dipper said.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Bill asked at the same time.

Primrose's whole body rose and fell with a massive dragon-y sigh, then shook her head, her eye to the ground.

Dipper's heart dropped. "What!? Why not!?"

In reply Primrose lifted her head and gestured back the forest.

This forest was Primrose's home, as much as Gravity Falls was home was to Dipper and Bill, perhaps even more. And Primrose only said she'd show them the way to the train which would take them back to their home- she never said she'd come with them.

She undoubtedly had friends, family, other dragons to go back to. She couldn't be the only dragon in that forest, even though they never saw any other dragons during their journey- dragons were elusive creatures after all.

Before the boys could object, Primrose sat down and began to talk in her indecipherable babble, her paws flailing in bad sign-language, however it was the first time that the two understood without any incorrect guesses.

 _The train will go unstoppable for many hours, and you will pass many landscapes, though where you will need to get off the train is at the pine forest. The train will not stop, so you will need to jump. You will arrive early tomorrow morning, so make sure you don't sleep past your home. Take care of yourselves._

She reached up to her neck, and winced as she pulled out two identical scales, glimmering like precious gemstones in the sun. She gave one to Dipper, and one to Bill, who looked at her speechless as they pocketed her gift.

"We have something to give you too," Bill said quietly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the necklace he had nicked from the dungeons. The demonite crystal sparkled nicely, melded with the golden chain it was held in. Bill raised the necklace above her head, and hung it around her neck. The crystal settled over her chest, still glimmering, and Primrose purred. She admired it, tilting it up with a gleaming a black talon. Her purring only got louder as she reached to Bill, pressing her nose to his cheek. He patted her head in turn.

"I'll miss you, you oversized snake," he said to her, an odd, sad tone to his voice.

They retreated from each other, and Primrose turned her head towards Dipper.

There was a shard of ice in Dipper's heart as she approached him, yet he bowed his head forward. Primrose reached to him, and the red diamond touched to the Big Dipper constellation, a surge of warmth sparking between the two marks like static shock. Yet Dipper pressed his head closer to her.

"You'll visit us in Gravity Falls, won't you?" he stammered, trying his best not to cry. He could only stare into her deep, green eyes. Sometimes Dipper thought that the whole forest could be fitted in just Primrose's eyes alone. Primrose purred sadly in agreement. "And you'll take us back here, even for a short visit?" Once again Primrose agreed.

Dipper hiccupped and wrapped his arms around her neck, pressing his face to her warm snakeskin chest. Primrose pressed the bottom of her chin to his shoulder blade, returning the hug in her own animal way.

"I love you mama." He didn't know which one of him had said it; Dipper or Vesper, but he could feel the warm tears running down his face.

Primrose backed away reluctantly only when the trainwheels screeched as the train began to move. The two boys leaned out of the open doorway, waving her goodbye. Faster and faster away from the station, and Primrose ran after the train, crowing like a rooster. She managed to keep up a few seconds before the train got too fast for her, where she got smaller in the distance before diving back into the plants, out of their sight.

Before Bill could look back to him, Dipper rubbed his tears away and pretended that he wasn't crying. He comforted himself that she would visit, and that she would take him back here again.

"Well," huffed Bill. He sat back, then laid down on the floor of the car and exhaled. "We're finally going back. After god knows how long we're going back to Gravity Falls." He raised his head to look at Dipper, who had leaned again one of the cardboard boxes. "I'll miss this place."

Dipper didn't think he'd agree with Bill as much as he did at that moment.

"Do you think it's a good idea to return to Gravity Falls?" asked Bill suddenly.

Dipper blinked in confusion. "We need to go back to Gravity Falls! I have a family that's waiting for me y'know. Mabel's been worried about me an awful lot- I know that because I can feel it. I need to go back to them- they're waiting for me."

Bill raised his eyebrow, but sighed again. "Let's rephrase that- do you think it's a good idea for me to return to Gravity Falls?"

Dipper thought about that for a moment. "Well... not really," he replied truthfully. "If the whole town knows you've taken on a human form, then you're pretty much screwed. I know Great Uncle Ford and Grunkle Stan will kill you on the spot if you so much walk into their line of sight and-" The hurt on Bill's face made him stop rambling. He shook his hands as well as his head. "Forget I ever said that. I'm sure everything will be alright."

"I highly doubt that." Bill snapped, and yawned. "I'm lost, and I can never go home. I don't have a home anymore. Trust me, I would've like to stay here if it weren't for this stupid chain keeping us together." He sighed heavily. "At least I have experience on surviving in the wild now."

Bill yawned again, his tongue curled inward like a lizard's and he propped his hands behind his head. "It's as your human saying goes- 'all good this must come to an end'. I guess that means my life too. I guess I've lived long enough."

Dipper blew a raspberry at him. "Get a grip man," he snapped back. "There's more to life than world domination, y'know. Have you ever had an entire cinema cheer for a scene in a movie? Or been to an indie music festival? Or eaten popcorn with ketchup? Yes, before you ask, Mabel made that combination, but it's actually really good as long as the popcorn's salty and not sweet and-" He noticed the amused glare Bill gave him. "You haven't really tried anything this world has to offer, have you?"

"I've ridden on a dragon's back," he replied casually. "But perhaps you're right. I'm sure there's more things to try other than you just mentioned."

Suddenly a familiar voice tore through the quiet, so loud that it drowned out the chugging of the train. It tore the boys up to their feet, scrambling to the open door to get the best view first.

There, on the tallest tree, was entangled the silhouette of a massive dragon, a black shape against the crawling sun. Even though Dipper had to hold his hand above his eyes as to see without the intense light in his eyes, he still knew who this was.

And once again something long-forgotten began to hum in the back of Dipper's mind, the familiarity growing stronger with every note that was sung. Primrose kept singing, louder with every inhuman sound; wolf howls, dolphin calls, whale shrieks. Yet this time it contained that little tinge of humanity.

Dragonsong... It was beautiful.

And yet it faded gradually away the further the train went, and soon the shadow of the singing dragon disappeared over the horizon, and her song became a whisper in the wind, boding the boys farewell.


	13. Chapter 13: Moon Rising

The dragonsong rang in Dipper's mind many hours later, when the sun had set below the horizon, and he was humming the tune under his breath as to engrave it in his mind forever. There was no way he could make those same sounds as a dragon could, but the tune he could still sing. His finger traced the outline of the sharp scale in his pocket, trying his best to hit the highest notes of the song, which was surprisingly easy for his voice.

The rhythm of the train was calming, and soon Dipper dozed off with the last fading notes of the dragonsong.

However his sleep didn't last long. Like usual, he awoke in the middle of the night as he was now used to doing. It was a protective measure, to make sure nothing was going wrong. He shuffled around to switch positions. He was about to close his eyes once more when he noticed that Bill was sitting at the edge of the open traincart, staring at the full moon, so bright that it bleached his hair white, and even Dipper's dark hair shone silver.

"You should try getting some sleep," Dipper proposed, blinking the sleep out of his eyes rapidly. He rolled over so his stomach faced the floor and pushed himself up to sit on his knees. "You need it now that you're human."

Bill slightly turned his head so he could look over the shoulder at Dipper, the single golden eye seemed to give off its own light, like the moon itself. It was a while before he answered, the rhythm of the train unstopping in the background.

"I don't know how to sleep."

Dipper's eyebrows rocketed so high they disappeared behind his hanging fringe. What? How could Bill _not_ know how to sleep? It was one of the few things humans could do without being taught, and Bill had slept before, so why was he now saying he didn't know how? Dipper shook his head. "Not true. You don't need to be taught how to sleep, and haven't you done it before?"

Bill looked back up at the moon, leaving only the back of his head for Dipper to look at. "I guess you wouldn't understand," he spoke softly. It didn't suit Bill's usually loud and booming voice, and the unfamiliar tone just sent off such uncomfortable vibes that it made Dipper attempt to bite his upper gum. "For you, sleep is basically nothingness. And when you do see things, it's not real at all. You'd think I know things like this, and I do- more than anyone else."

And that made sense. Bill was most powerful in the mindscape, at least back during those days when he had the power of imagination at his fingertips. Dipper had no doubt about that.

"Then _go to sleep_ ," Dipper tried telling him again. "I'm an early riser now, so I'll be able to wake us up before-"

" _God_ it's not that simple!" That shouty tone was more-or-less what Dipper was used to hearing from Bill. The demon-boy's shoulders gave a violent twitch. "Sleeping's different for me. I dream from the moment I close my eyes to the moment I wake up. And I remember everything." His hands curled into fists against the wooded floor. "And that 'everything' is hellfire."

Oh.

Dipper sighed and stood up to his feet, hesitating before padding silently up to Bill. He sat down nonchalantly beside him on the edge of the cart. His feet dangled over the edge, sometimes catching over the tips of the plants that grew by the tracks. "Shouldn't the art of sleeping be natural to me to? Shouldn't I be sleeping like you do and not-"

"You lay awake at night, I know," Dipper said dryly. It seemed like only yesterday when he'd listen to Bill struggling with sickness in the night. "I'm a light sleeper, you were making so much noise you even woke Primrose up."

Bill opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to, so he closed it again.

"So..." Dipper picked up the conversation after a moment's silence. "Oath of eternal loyalty; tell me about that."

Bill's answer was a heavy sigh. "I was kinda hoping you wouldn't ask about that." He pressed his knuckle to his forehead and groaned as if he had a headache. "Are you mad about that?"

"'Mad' wouldn't be the word I'd use," Dipper replied truthfully. "I'm rather confused more than anything else, really." He cocked his head to the side in question. "Why are you suddenly so tame?"

" _Tame_?" Bill echoed. "Do you take me for some kind of animal?" He grimaced. "For hell's sake Pine Tree maybe you could expand on that instead of leaving me in the dark?"

"Well you changed your behaviour basically overnight. From a world-eater you're now..." he couldn't find quite the right words, so he hoped to forward his point with a pathetic hand gesture. "Well, ya get the point."

Bill was shaking his head. "Remember the men in the dungeons?"

Dipper tried not to.

"There," Bill barked, though his tone was not unfriendly. He looked away, apparently finding kicking at the plants more interesting. "You have your answer why I'm partially reformed."

Dipper pursed his lips. "You haven't answered my first question."

In reply Bill tried to imitate an annoyed harking sound Primrose usually made when he in turn was being unbearable, though what instead came out as a strange goose noise. "You're awfully persistent Pine Tree, and if I know you, you wont' let go until you have your answer."

Dipper only shrugged. "You guessed right."

Bill sighed through parted teeth. "Listen Pine Tr- Dipper. I never felt any loyalty or love towards anybody. Not to Ford, not to my henchmaniacs, to no-one at all. Not even you when I first met you. You and your sister were nothing but a nuisance to me." He snapped angrily to himself. "Even at the start of this journey I hated you, with all my soul, yet I knew that I needed your help if I was to survive."

"Yup, that's the Bill I know," Dipper mumbled to himself morbidly.

But Bill carried on, either not hearing or ignoring what Dipper said. "Then we came across Primrose and you were so quick to help her. I saw how you two interacted, and I was partially disgusted by it, but I guess it was because it was so genuine and I was used to the fake sense of platonic love."

"What are you trying to tell me?" Dipper questioned.

"I'm trying to tell you something important." Bill barked, so harshly that Dipper flinched. "So do you best to shut up and listen to me."

Dipper shut up.

"I was so furious with you and Primrose and this curse and everything that I decided to take it out in that abandoned town; first on you, then on Primrose. I wanted to outright tare the both of you apart to my heart's desire, to watch you writhe in agony before my eyes."

He must've noticed Dipper shuffling away from him, so he switched the subject swiftly.

"Then there was the whole fiasco with the dungeons and those creepy bastards, and there it was the first time I felt... fear you call it?" He looked to Dipper for clarification- but looked quickly away. "The moment I heard you in the dark, I felt safer somehow. God, now I made it weird, didn't I?"

"Don't address it," Dipper grumbled, not wanting to admit to the same feelings either.

Bill gave a short nod. "I was glad to have you at my side in those tunnels... It was probably the first time I didn't want to hurt you. I-" Bill stopped. "You know, maybe it was a bad idea telling you this."

"I think I see what you're trying to tell me," Dipper interrupted him, determined to piece together these strange puzzle-pieces.

Bill raised an eyebrow, and raised his eyes to the glowing moon. "It's obvious you were once a supernatural," he put in. "Anyways, the more time I spent with you and Primrose, the less I hated you both. I realised I had trusted you, with more than my life; I followed your lead and you followed mine. I already started to grow close to you both before the events in the dungeons, but I only realised it there. And then you were shot and I realised that I had began-" he took a deep breath "-to care for you. I realised that I didn't want you to die."

Dipper was nodding his head. "Yeah, Primrose told me about what happened."

" _Did she now?_ " Bill hissed, baring his flat human teeth. "What, did you learn dragon-tongue already? You were singing her dragonsong- don't think I didn't hear you."

"Shut up," Dipper barked back.

Bill's mouth pursed into a thin line. For a moment Dipper thought he'd ruined the conversation, and looked up at the moon. _Some night, huh._

The silver light covered the hills, as wells as the small towns in the distance. They had long left the forest as well as the daylight. The train had travelled through hills and fields of late summer crops, and even after the sun set the train kept going. Where it was headed Dipper didn't really know. All he did know was that it passed through Gravity Falls, and that was all he really cared about.

"Dipper," Bill spoke up again. "Are you absolutely sure that Ford can break our curse?"

Was he absolutely sure? Ford was their best bet- their only bet if he was completely honest- he knew almost everything when it came to the supernatural. "Yes," Dipper replied.

Bill sighed deeply and shook his head. "Maybe letting your uncle kill me would be the best solution. I don't belong in this world, certainly not after all I've done."

This wasn't a nightmare either, Bill was really saying those things. Dipper didn't really believe that this was real life, but what else could it be? "Hang on, did you actually say what I think you said?"

"Are you deaf?" Bill spat angrily, his pupil thinning in frustration. "I said that I deserve to die. After all I've done, to you, to this world, to mine..." he winced.

"Are you feeling remorse all over a sudden?" Dipper asked. "You?"

"Remorse... that's like regret, innit?" mumbled the demon-boy, his brow furrowed. He finally turned his head to look Dipper in the face. "Do you think I can change completely?"

Did he? Even now, trusting Bill was not something Dipper did overly easily. Though he wanted to, with all his heart, for Bill to become a true friend and ally, deep down the shadow of Bill's psychopathic past lingered. He was still the triangle-demon that Dipper had hated and feared.

"You're the master of manipulation," Dipper answered truthfully. "For all I know you could just be waiting for someone with a symbol strong enough to revert you back to demon form so you can launch Weirdmageddon 2."

Bill mimicked his head tilt. "Weirdmageddon 2. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? But it needs more glamour if I'm ever going to pull it off." He shook his head so white strands fell across his face. "Which will probably be never at this rate, let's be honest. Do you seriously think anyone will be stupid enough as to shake hands with me?"

"A lot of people don't know you," Dipper pointed out. "It's human custom for people to shake hands when they meet y'know and-"

"You're not making this any easier!" Bill snapped.

And there was silence between them. The soft rhythm of the train kept going, not stopping at all. _Chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chug-_

Bill raised his hand, and began to massage his wounded eye. Did it still hurt him? It looked like it did. Maybe it had gotten infected? Nah, Primrose wouldn't let that happen. Dipper didn't want to ask- their conversation had already spun wildly out of control, it didn't need to reach absurd levels of awkwardness more than it already had. Bill's unease just screamed out of him, and Dipper tried very hard to think of anyone who was as emotionally distracted as he was.

So Dipper sighed and got up to his feet. What Bill wanted to do after the curse was broken was his problem- and if it meant willingly putting down his head on a chopping block it was his choice... though Dipper still had doubts that he would let that happen. It was Bill but... he couldn't let him die when he first broke free- and he could let him die now. He gave Bill one final look before turning to walk further into the traincart.

"Dipper."

Dipper stopped in his tracks.

"What?" he turned back to Bill.

"I'm sorry," sobbed Bill. "For everything."

And that was the moment when Dipper felt his heart truly soften for the demon-boy. Sorry. He said sorry. Apologised for every horrible thing he'd ever done to anyone and everyone.

One word. That was all it took. And yet it was only the second-hardest thing to ever say.

Dipper sat back down next to his former enemy, hesitated, then reached over to wrap his arms around Bill's neck.

"I forgive you."

The very moment those words left Dipper's mouth, two things happened. One, Bill made an indecipherable noise. Two, the chain sprung to life.

It shone with a bright white glow, as it always did. Brighter and brighter still, so bright the two boys couldn't even look at it.

There was a sound of shattering glass, and the bright light ceased to be. The curse had been broken.


End file.
